Aesthetic Realism and the Beauty of the Brooklyn Bridge

This article is about one of the world’s most celebrated structures — the Brooklyn Bridge: what makes it beautiful, and why it has been loved by millions of people. It is based on this landmark principle, stated by Eli Siegel — poet, critic, and founder of the philosophy Aesthetic Realism: “All beauty is a making one of opposites, and the making one of opposites is what we are going after in ourselves.” Beginning with the effect of this bridge on such artists and poets as Joseph Stella and Hart Crane, it then describes each step of the design and construction of this magnifi cent structure, showing how the making one of opposites — Power and Grace, Heaviness and Lightness, Firmness and Flexibility, Simplicity and Complexity — is what makes it a great work of both engineering and art. For example, in Bridges and Their Builders, Steinman and Watson write: “The pierced granite towers, the graceful arc of the main cables, the gossamer network of lighter cables, and the arched line of the roadway combine to produce a matchless composition, expressing the harmonious union of power and grace”. Doesn’t every person want to be at once strong and graceful? The authors describe how, as people are affected by the beautiful sensible relation of opposing forces working together for one purpose in the Brooklyn Bridge, they feel more hopeful that these same opposites can make sense in their own lives.