Art

Art is a wide range of creative activities that use talents to make things that can move people’s feelings or share ideas. These activities can include making paintings, sculptures, music, dancing, plays, and even writing stories. People create art to show beauty, express strong emotions, or share important thoughts.

There is no single way to define what art is, as it means different things to different people and cultures. In places like Europe, art has often been split into groups such as painting, sculpture, and building design. But art can also include performing on stage, making films, writing books, and more.

Art has been a part of human life for thousands of years. Long ago, the word “art” meant any special skill, like making pottery or building tools. Over time, people began to separate art from everyday skills, focusing more on beauty and deep meaning. Today, we study art to understand its history and how it makes us feel, and many people spend their lives learning to create and appreciate it.

Overview

Art has been a part of human life for a very long time, from early prehistoric art to contemporary art. Some thinkers believe the idea of "art" works best in modern Western societies. One old meaning of "art" is linked to the Latin word for "skill" or "craft", which connects to words like artifact and artificial.

Over time, many thinkers like Plato, Aristotle, Socrates, and Immanuel Kant have talked about what art means. For example, Aristotle saw different kinds of art, like poetry and music, as ways to copy or imitate the world. He thought this copying was natural for humans.

The idea of "fine art" began in the early 1600s. This refers to art made to show creativity, touch people’s feelings, or make them think about deeper ideas. Art can be a skill, a process, an object, or an experience for the audience. It can make us think, feel, or see things in new ways. Even art made for politics, religion, or just beauty has these purposes. The meaning of art has been hard to pin down, but it is a special way humans express and share ideas.

History

Main article: History of art

Very old pieces of art have been found, like a shell with marks made by early humans over 400,000 years ago. Other early art includes small shells and animal bones that were likely used as jewelry or decorations.

Some of the oldest known art in Europe comes from Neanderthals, with carvings and paintings dating back around 40,000 years. These early works show that people have always expressed themselves through art.

Many famous art styles began in ancient places like Ancient Egypt, Mesopotamia, and Ancient Greece. These cultures created beautiful sculptures, paintings, and buildings that influenced later artists.

During the Middle Ages, art often showed religious stories. In the Renaissance, artists began to show the world more realistically. Later periods brought new styles like Impressionism and Cubism.

In Asia, art developed in many ways too. Islamic art used patterns and writing instead of pictures. In China, artists created wonderful paintings, pottery, and sculptures. Japan developed its own styles of painting and printing.

The 18th century brought ideas about reason and change, leading to new art forms. The 20th century saw many different art movements as artists explored new ways to create and think about art.

Forms, genres, media, and styles

Main article: The arts

Creative arts are often sorted into different groups based on how they look or feel, such as by media, genre, styles, and form. An art form talks about the ways an artist works and the looks of the artwork, like color, contour, dimension, medium, space, texture, and value.

People have different ideas about what makes art special. Some think it’s all about the way it looks or feels. Others think it’s about what the artist meant or what the artwork shows. And some believe it’s about the world and culture around us. Artists may use skills and special ways to make their work, like drawing or painting. Some modern art uses everyday objects instead of traditional skills. Still, many artists today keep practicing drawing and painting to make beautiful, hand-made pieces.

Purpose

Art has served many different purposes throughout history, making its purpose hard to pin down to just one idea. But this doesn’t mean art’s purpose is unclear—it has simply had many unique reasons for being created.

Art can be something humans do naturally, like appreciating balance and harmony, or expressing imagination in ways that words can’t. It can also help us feel emotions, share ideas, or support causes we care about. Some art is made to entertain, while other pieces aim to make changes in society or help people heal. Overall, art is a powerful way to communicate and connect with others.

Main article: Lévi-Strauss

Non-motivated functions

Art can be a basic human instinct, helping us feel balance and harmony. It lets us experience mystery and express our imagination in ways that go beyond words. In many cultures, art is also used in rituals and symbols, carrying meanings that have developed over time.

Imitation, then, is one instinct of our nature. Next, there is the instinct for 'harmony' and rhythm, meters being manifestly sections of rhythm. Persons, therefore, starting with this natural gift developed by degrees their special aptitudes, till their rude improvisations gave birth to Poetry. – Aristotle

The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and science. – Albert Einstein

Jupiter's eagle is not, like logical (aesthetic) attributes of an object, the concept of the sublimity and majesty of creation, but rather something else—something that gives the imagination an incentive to spread its flight over a whole host of kindred representations that provoke more thought than admits of expression in a concept determined by words. They furnish an aesthetic idea, which serves the above rational idea as a substitute for logical presentation, but with the proper function, however, of animating the mind by opening out for it a prospect into a field of kindred representations stretching beyond its ken. – Immanuel Kant

Most scholars who deal with rock paintings or objects recovered from prehistoric contexts that cannot be explained in utilitarian terms and are thus categorized as decorative, ritual or symbolic, are aware of the trap posed by the term 'art'. – Silva Tomaskova

Motivated functions

Art can also be made with specific goals in mind, like communicating ideas, entertaining people, or supporting political change. Some art challenges society’s norms, while other pieces aim to raise awareness about important issues. Art can also be used for healing, to influence thoughts and feelings, or even to show creativity as a way to attract others.

Art is a set of artefacts or images with symbolic meanings as a means of communication. – Steve Mithen

By contrast, the realistic attitude, inspired by positivism, from Saint Thomas Aquinas to Anatole France, clearly seems to me to be hostile to any intellectual or moral advancement. I loathe it, for it is made up of mediocrity, hate, and dull conceit. It is this attitude which today gives birth to these ridiculous books, these insulting plays. It constantly feeds on and derives strength from the newspapers and stultifies both science and art by assiduously flattering the lowest of tastes; clarity bordering on stupidity, a dog's life. – André Breton (Surrealism)

Art for political change has been a key goal of many modern art movements, including Dadaism, Surrealism, Russian constructivism, and Abstract Expressionism. These are often called the avant-garde arts.

Today, contemporary art welcomes different cultures and encourages free thinking and change. Some art questions society without a clear political aim, using forms like graffiti art and street art, which are often created in public places without permission.

Art can also support important causes, like raising awareness about autism, cancer, human trafficking, and many others, such as protecting oceans, human rights in Darfur, and more. For example, Trashion, by artist Marina DeBris, uses trash to make fashion and draw attention to pollution.

Art is also used in healing, where creating art helps people express themselves and work through emotions. This is known as art therapy. The Diagnostic Drawing Series helps understand a person’s feelings and personality, using the creative process to support healing.

Sometimes art is used to influence people’s thoughts or to promote products, gently guiding feelings and opinions.

Some think that art, like a peacock’s tail, might have evolved to attract others, showing creativity as a way to connect with people.

The purposes of art often overlap—for example, entertainment can also promote a product, like in movies or video games.

Steps

Art can be thought of in three main steps, though there is no exact agreement on how many steps there are.

Preparation

In the first step, the artist imagines what the art will look like. This imagination starts the process of creating the art. Preparing for art might include learning about the subject. Artistic inspiration often comes from natural feelings and thoughts.

Creation

In the second step, the artist makes the artwork. Many things can affect how the art turns out, such as the artist's mood, where they are surroundings, and how they are feeling mental state. For example, The Black Paintings by Francisco de Goya are thought to look sad because he was alone and had seen war. He painted them right on the walls of his home in Spain. The Beatles said that substances like LSD and cannabis helped them create some of their best songs, like Revolver. Trying different things trial and error is very important in creating art.

Appreciation

The final step is art appreciation, which includes thinking deeply about the art. Many art students think that deep thinking reflection is very important. Learning about and enjoying art is valuable for everyone, not just for its money value. Art can make us feel many different emotions because of beauty. Some art is made to be useful and to make us think.

Public access

Since ancient times, much of the best art has shown great wealth or power, often using huge sizes and costly materials. Often, leaders or religious groups asked artists to create these works, and only the richest people could usually see or own them.

But there have also been times when beautiful art was available to many people. For example, cheap items like pottery or cloth could be found in many homes. In places like ancient Rome and Greece, special tools helped make many copies of art for everyday people. Even coins became a kind of art that everyone could see.

In 1661, the city of Basel in Switzerland opened the world’s first public art museum, called the Kunstmuseum Basel. Today, it holds art from the 1400s up to now. Public places like temples and palaces often showed art for everyone to see. For example, in Egypt, the biggest and most beautiful decorations were placed where anyone could view them.

Special rules let people visit royal art collections. In Paris, the Orleans Collection could be seen by visitors for much of the 1700s. In Italy, tours of great art became popular, and cities worked to share their treasures. Museums today continue this idea that art should be for everyone, though sometimes art still shows off wealth and status.

Controversies

Art has often been controversial, meaning some people did not like it for many reasons. In the past, some people destroyed art they disliked, especially if it went against their religious beliefs. For example, some religions did not like images made of people or religious figures. This idea affected the history of Islamic art, where pictures of important figures like Muhammad caused disagreement.

Artists have sometimes made works that caused surprise or debate. For example, Théodore Géricault's Raft of the Medusa commented on a recent political event. Édouard Manet's Le Déjeuner sur l'Herbe shocked some people because a woman was shown without the expected clothing. Over time, artists began to decide more for themselves what to create, which sometimes led to more debates.

In the 20th century, some artworks caused strong reactions. Pablo Picasso's Guernica showed the sad effects of a bombing in a small town. Other works also led to many people talking and disagreeing about them.

Theory

Main article: Aesthetics

Before Modernism, people thought a lot about how to balance realism and beauty in art. Some believed art should show nature as it really is, while others thought it should show ideal, perfect versions of things. These ideas changed over time in different places.

Since the 20th century, it has become harder to say exactly what makes something art. One way to think about art is that its value is fixed and does not depend on what people think. Another way is that its value depends on what most people think together. A third way is that what people think about art changes depending on who is looking at it.

The arrival of Modernism in the late 19th century changed ideas about what art should do. Later, postmodernism brought more changes. Some artists, like Andy Warhol, used art to talk about everyday life and popular culture. Today, many artists think about how all kinds of images, not just paintings, can be part of art.

Some people believe that what the artist meant when making a piece of art is important for understanding it. Others think the art should be judged just by what it looks like, not by the artist's intentions. This debate continues among people who study art.

At the end of the 20th century, there was a big discussion about whether understanding a piece of art depends more on what we think about it or how we see it. Some said that our ideas and language shape how we see art, while others argued that our eyes and senses also play a big role. This debate is still going on today.

Classification disputes

Main article: Classificatory disputes about art

Sometimes people argue about whether something should be called art or not. These arguments happened a lot in the 1900s with things like cubist and impressionist paintings, strange pieces like Duchamp's Fountain, movies, very realistic banknote copies, conceptual art, and even video games. Some thinkers say these arguments aren’t really about what art is, but more about what people care about in life and society.

Art can also describe something very good, like saying a meal is a “work of art.” But deciding what makes something “good” art can be tricky. Some art is beautiful, but not all. Sometimes art shows upsetting or serious things to make people think or feel strongly. For example, Francisco Goya painted a very sad scene to show a big problem in society.

People keep trying new ways to decide what is good art, and sometimes this means changing what we think is beautiful. Art often tries to connect with our feelings and show what it means to be human. With new technology like generative artificial intelligence and artificial intelligence art, people are also thinking about how this changes our ideas about art. The same is true for music and artificial intelligence and using large language models to create creative writing.

Art and law

Art can sometimes involve tricky legal matters, like copies or works that closely resemble existing pieces. Laws help protect artists' original work, giving them control over how their art is used and shared.

International groups like UNESCO and Blue Shield International work to protect important art, especially during conflicts or disasters, to preserve cultures and support communities.