Charles Pépin

Learning to see around us to meet ourselves. When we are struck by beauty - in a landscape, a melody, a painting, a face... - we recognize the unique sensation it brings, but we don't always appreciate its importance. Instead of the quest for beauty, we prefer the quest for success, power, happiness, pleasure, friendship or love.

Yet, as Charles Pépin argues, the pleasure we derive from beauty is never superficial: it helps us to know ourselves better, to dare to be who we are, and to embrace the mystery of existence.

Cross-referencing the thinking of the great philosophers, theœuvre of artists past and present, and drawing on his own personal experience, he shows that beauty enables us to rediscover our freedom to judge, to develop our ability to listen, to surpass ourselves and to trust ourselves. Beauty is more than a spectacle: it helps us to live more intensely.