Abstract
Charles Darwin is not only author of the famous concept of natural selection as the main driving force of evolution, but also the creator of the revolutionary hypothesis on sexual selection and natural aesthetics. He believed that many species of vertebrates have a subjective ability to perceive and appreciate beauty, and that they choose partners based on their taste.
In Darwin's lifetime, and indeed for most of the twentieth century, this theory was usually rejected, and it is only in the course of the past decade that it is starting to find acceptance.