"Things that matter most must never be at the mercy of things that matter least." -Goethe

In IB Art, the thing that matters most is developing a theme. I finally decided that I am going to explore the theme of beauty. It may seem superficial at first, but I don't simply want to draw pretty people, just to be clear. What is beauty in other cultures? What was beauty in other times? What is beauty? Is beauty important? I want to be able to find these answers, and maybe some meaning through my research and artwork. 

I starting searching, and here are some of the interesting things I found:

• According to generallythinking.com, adherence to social consensus + genetic fitness = physical beauty. Quite an interesting formula, I thought.
• According to the dictionary, beauty means:

1. the quality present in a thing or person that gives intense pleasure or deep satisfaction to the mind, whether arising from sensory manifestations (as shape, color, sound, etc.), a meaningful design or pattern, or something else (as a personality in which high spiritual qualities are manifest).
2. a beautiful person, especially a woman.
3. a beautiful thing, as a work of art or a building.
4. Often, beauties are something that is beautiful in nature or in some natural or artificial environment.
5. an individually pleasing or beautiful quality; grace; charm: a vivid blue area that is the one real beauty of the painting.

• According to the thesaurus, beauty is physical attractiveness. This is also known as...
• adorableness,allure, allurement,artistry,attraction,bloom,charm,class, comeliness,delicacy,elegance, exquisiteness,fairness,fascination, glamor, good looks,grace, handsomeness, loveliness,polish,pulchritude,refinement, shapeliness,style,symmetry, winsomeness
• According to a Dove Campaign that asked, "What exactly is beauty?" it was found that:
• Seventy-seven percent strongly agree that beauty can be achieved through attitude, spirit, and other attributes that have nothing to do with physical appearance.
• Eighty-nine percent strongly agree that a woman can be beautiful at any age.
• Eighty-five percent state that every woman has something about her that is beautiful.

As you can see, there are a lot of ways of defining it. So can you help me out? One of my projects I am planning to do is with words... and I want your words. What is beauty? Does beauty matter most or least?

-Sarah