Today we know that children who engage in artistic activities develop self-confidence, communication skills and stimulation of both hemispheres of the brain.
Their physical and neuronal plasticity is fed by the constant activity and continuous learning capacity they possess.
But today I want to focus on the influence of beauty in art and the spaces in which a child’s daily life unfolds.
The contact with artistic works, ancient or modern, that express a manifest beauty and harmony, exercise a remarkable influence in their development. This is the same effect produced by the rhythm and harmony of music, but perceived through image, whether it be sculpture, painting, architecture or decoration.
This influence of contact with the beauty of nature and art extends over time to their acts and attitudes. Beautiful environments make them inclined to respect the same order they perceive in nature, and to appreciate harmony in coexistence.
Modern neuroscience tells us about mirror neurons, those neurons that register what we see and that are ready to create and project behaviours in the future.
The Greeks said it differently: “We become like what we see.” That’s why they united the beautiful and the heroic in a model of art that elevates the spirit.
A child’s natural curiosity to know and explore the world makes him very receptive to contact with art, his innocence still maintains direct contact with his emotions, his sense of wonder makes him live an intense present that is nourished by every detail.
Certainly beauty, like truth, is revealed only to those who have not lost the child’s capacity to be surprised by life.
His plasticity makes him develop with the influences of the beauty that surrounds him. The consequences will be, besides the development of the aesthetic sense, the orderly and balanced configuration of his psyche and mind.
Later, as you grow older, the harshness of the adult world will often deprive you of contact with the kind and beautiful, but a life enveloped in beauty will give you the springs to always find the ability to find inner peace and build peace in your surroundings.
We cannot forget that beauty, when contemplated by a balanced soul, also arouses love and intelligence.
Let us therefore give children the opportunity to surround themselves with beauty and to create it.
Miguel Angel Padilla
