The Pleasure of Patterns in Art
Samuel Jay Keyser | The MIT Reader | 15th August 2025
A deep dive into how we perceive. Why do we enjoy looking at Caillebotte’s “Paris Street; Rainy Day” (1877)? Partly it’s the prominence of faces, objects we are hardwired to notice. More subtly, many objects have a triangular shape and are arranged in triangles, Such “visual rhymes” occur even if the objects are not exactly identical – look at the cobblestones. “Our eyes trace patterns, spot subtle variations, and construct visual rhymes, taking satisfaction in order amid difference.”