This slim booklet reprints in full the Mondrian Lecture 2012, entitled ‘Art is Beauty in the Brain of the Beholder’, given by physician and neurobiologist Dick Swaab of the Netherlands Institute for Neuroscience in Amsterdam. Known for his research into the human brain and contentious findings, which propose that we are the mere manifestation of our brain, here Swaab outlines a relatively new area of research known as neuroaesthetics. The essay examines the various mechanisms in the brain that are involved in making, perceiving and appreciating art. Creativity, he claims, is determined by our brains – not surprisingly, many of its forms stem directly from brain defects.