The article scrutinizes Clive Bell’s theory of the aesthetic emotion in its relationship to the concept of beauty. The idea is that beauty might be a genuine type of aesthetic emotion which is directed at artworks. Bell’s view of the aesthetic emotion is exposed as an explanation of our feeling of beauty. The strengths of his uncommon view are discussed in contrast to other theories of beauty and artworks. It is shown that Bell’s conception of the aesthetic emotion is independent of his formalism in art theory which emerges from a metaphysical confusion of intrinsic and essential properties. Finally, a transcendental argument for the aesthetic emotion is reconstructed from Bell’s writings.

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