Beauty and Truth are objective for they operate exactly the same. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder is the single most misunderstood concept in art. if you are looking at something from a master of the Renaissance then most likely you are looking at a beautiful object. Once you are looking at a beautiful thing then you may have subjectivity. You may prefer Michelangelo’s painting to Raphael, and you are equally as correct as the opposite viewpoint.
Like beauty, Truth is objective, albeit with occasional nuance. If you wholly believe that something is true, it doesn’t make it so. If you believe that 2+2=5 you can argue, and even get people to go along with it, but you would still be wrong. While it is an accepted truth that murder is wrong, however to kill someone to protect your life or your family is also truth.
Apollo chases Daphne destined to never possess her. Bernini 1622-25 from Marble.
Saying Jeffery Koons produces beautiful art is wrong. It’s profitable, it hangs in museums, but it’s not beautiful. So the art critic, or the aspiring fan uses the adage of beauty being in the eye of the beholder. I’ve seen objective beauty in both Art and Architecture. My definition is constantly evolving and going deeper with addition of new aspects, but I can show it to you easily. I see it most evidently in the work of Bernini.
Apollo and Daphne. Bernini 1622-25.
Truth is elusive because it is sometimes very well hidden, but I believe it is still there. Beauty only requires to be viewed without a precondition. Rome is full of objective beauty, it’s why I chose to go there last summer. It is why I wish to return.
Detail shot of Daphne by Bernini.