Synaesthetics: Art as Synaesthesia

Paul Gordon proposes a new theory of art as synaesthetic and applies this idea to various media, including works–such as movies, illustrated books, and song lyrics–that explicitly cross over into media involving the different senses. The idea of art as synaesthetic is not, however, limited to those cross-over works, because even an individual poem or novel or painting calls upon different senses in creating its syn-aesthetic meaning.

Although previous studies have often devolved into those who see an obvious connection between art and synaesthesia and those who adamantly reject such a notion, Synaesthetics furthers our understanding of synaesthesia as an important, if not essential, component of artistic expression.