Mathematics says that the shortest way from A to B is a straight line. But in nature you hardly find any straight lines. The same applies to roads, at least outside of cities. There the roads and other ways accommodate to topography and other elements, and also consider that vehicles and other users of those ways don’t like to go all straight or in right angles. Thus the engineers design them in more or less bent curves. Or the vehicles or even the water take the way of the least resistance and thus also follow natural curves. That’s called the flow.
And finally, for our eyes it is also more pleasant to follow a curved line in nature then looking all straight. This we often attribute to harmony.
Curves we find everywhere, right around the corner. As mentioned above anywhere in nature, outside the cities. But even in old cities you will often find roads and paths following curved lines, because they resulted from traditional pathways before houses were constructed, or simply easing the way up the slopes.
Curves are not only a pleasure to our eyes, they sometimes can also be a kind of meditation for our mind.
The following small collection is a selection from my book “the curve”, which you can find here or buy directly here.