Here, we see a pleasing display of garden pots at the Mainescape Plant Nursery in Blue Hill on October 19. We wondered why we found a group of pots so pleasing.
It turns out that there is significant research on the subject of the pleasing nature of circles. It begins with the finding that humans have had a predilection for circles and other curvilinear shapes for at least 40,000 years and the addition of colors and concentric lines has been a traditional way to make those forms even more pleasing.
The reported three leading theories on why we like circles start with an evolutionary finding that ancient humans found that curvilinear shapes in nature, such as bushes, generally were safer than angular ones, such as animal teeth and rocks.
The second theory is based on tests in which most humans associated circles and other curvilinear shapes with happiness and associated triangles with anger. The final theory is that circular shapes conform with the circular and curvilinear shape of the human eye and complement the act of viewing. (Brooklin, Maine) Click on the image to enlarge it.