Far from just killing the cat, curiosity enabled western civilization to develop along previously unforeseen paths. In their attempts to understand life, the universe and everything, European Enlightenment intellectuals turned their attention away from mysticism and metaphysics to examine instead the realities of the natural order.
It is not a coincidence that during the 16th century, the dawn of the Enlightenment period, the first ‘pure’ landscape painting emerged through experimentation. Free from the constraints of having to view the world through theological spectacles, artists were able to apply their curiosity to the material world.
