Portals to the Heart through ART

Heart Pictures

Heart pictures – Women’s Mysterious Love of the Heart Shape

Heart pictures, pictures of heart-shaped objects, and heart-shaped objects themselves abound today in a profusion never before experienced on the planet. Girls especially seem to revel in them for some reason, and I can’t help wondering why.

An Internet search for ‘heart pictures’ brings up all sorts of biological pictures and medical diagrams of the human heart and its various functions. But along with these pictures also come the often whimsical, all-too-familiar heart-shaped symbols in a multiplicity of colours and settings.

Why this fascination with the heart-shape? Why not an equal interest in pictures of the kidney for example? Surely the kidney is just as interesting and as aesthetically pleasing a shape as the heart? Who knows, maybe one day the kidney might take the ascendant, but right now we are dealing with whatever we are dealing with, and that presumably must be far better suited to pictures of the heart than the kidney!

So here are a few of my thoughts concerning heart-shaped pictures etc. Firstly, and most obviously, the heart symbolises love. So anyone who has a fascination with heart-shaped pictures and objects will probably have a strong leaning towards romance, and more than likely be looking to expand love in their life generally. The colours of the pictures and objects are often pretty pinks or lavenders, and the setting can often involve fairies or furry animals. It’s all very sweet and girly, but somewhere underneath the surface lies some intrinsic psychological need for such symbols – and it’s this aspect I’d like to explore a little further.

The second thing I can’t help noticing about what has become standardised as the popular shape of the heart, is that it is made up of two equal sides that mirror each other perfectly. In this the popular heart pictures differ from their biological and medical counterparts, which are in fact far from symmetrical. So I wonder – why has the shape of the heart transmuted itself into such perfect symmetry – at least in our imagination?

I feel close to answering this question when I consider that the main function of the symbol is to represent a romantic relationship – invariably between a boy and a girl (whatever their ages!) And then I ask further – why has the heart image taken on such special importance in the lives of girls the world over – as opposed to boys?  The totem symbols of boys are generally far removed from such a loving, nurturing symmetrical sense of wholeness as the heart-shape. The answer I believe lies in what became known in the 90s as Girl Power.

Let’s face it – girls have not been treated as equal to boys for as long as we can remember – and hundreds of times longer! If you doubt this comment, just remember they were once traded for camels – for God’s sake! Even as late as the 1960s in Britain girls were being sent away from home for the disgrace of bearing a child out of wedlock, with the baby often being taken away from the mother and fostered. This far-from-equal treatment of the female, having such far-reaching consequences into the lives of both mother and child, was in sharp contrast to how the boy was viewed. No thought was ever given to the boys’ responsibility in these matters – he was just acting as boys do – sowing his wild oats in the normal acceptable manner! It was, of course the girl who was at fault entirely – we all know that don’t we sweetie? Obviously she must have led him on – and after all she could have said ‘no’ and told him to stop it! etc. Girl Power came not a moment too soon – the Spice Girls and other girl bands rousting up all those downtrodden little sweethearts into claw-bearing self-defending harpies . . . but I jest. . . .

Seriously – Girl Power is, I believe, at the heart of the heart shape in its modern context. Not that the girl wants to take control of her man – oh no, not unless he is trying to control her, of course! But she does insist on being equal to him – and so she is! And she does insist on his acknowledging this as fact, and living by this newly discovered truth. Thus the beautiful equal sides of a love-heart speak of her intention toward insisting on an equal relationship with her man – one in which the one side mirrors the other perfectly. Neither side is taller or shorter, (as compared to pictures of the literal heart), the shape made with the two equal sides being so exquisite – with its single root pointing toward the earth; and the dual curving sides both fattening out individually upward before plunging down again towards each other, where they are finally joined in the upper valley between the two halves. Two souls – each individually equal – yet rooted together in a harmonious singularity. The divine mystery of identity in relationship.

What more fitting symbol of a perfectly equal relationship could we ask for than this? If we want an equal beautiful romantic relationship, we need look no farther than the symbol of the heart! And yes – thank you girls for giving us symbolic heart pictures in abundance – in a world that is finally addressing its long-standing need true quality of the sexes!

So guys — if you want to please her – give her a heart-shape of some kind this Christmas  to show that you value her, understand her, respect her equality – and of course because girls just love heart pictures!

 Take Care of each other’s Heart,

Steve