Synesthesia is, indeed, a very real phenomenon. Check this link for a fascinating lecture on it by Vilayanur S. Ramachandran, a neuroscientist from the University of California in San Diego.
You can even listen to the lecture (as well as others if you append the url to stop at "reith2003") if you have RealPlayer. One of the lectures, the first I think, was conducted at Oxford University and, at the end, includes a question and answer session. Among those in the audience who ask questions is Richard Dawkins and David Deutch.
You might especially find interesting the third lecture, The Artful Brain, in which Ramachandran suggests his "10 universal laws of art."
The 2003 Lectures link is: http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/reith2003/
You can even listen to the lecture (as well as others if you append the url to stop at "reith2003") if you have RealPlayer. One of the lectures, the first I think, was conducted at Oxford University and, at the end, includes a question and answer session. Among those in the audience who ask questions is Richard Dawkins and David Deutch.
You might especially find interesting the third lecture, The Artful Brain, in which Ramachandran suggests his "10 universal laws of art."
The 2003 Lectures link is: http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/reith2003/