Art is a form of creativity that can take many forms, including painting, sculpting, music, photography and dance. For centuries people have created art to convey emotions and express their ideas. It is often used for therapeutic purposes to help patients heal and cope with their illnesses. Creating art can also be enjoyable and relaxing, helping to relieve stress. Art has been shown to improve cognitive and motor skills and can increase well-being.
Whether something is considered to be art can depend on many factors, including its purpose, style and audience. For example, paintings of pretty landscapes are usually considered to be art but a drawing of an ugly-looking face may not be. Some art is considered to be more serious than others, such as works that use symbolism or metaphors. Art is also judged on its ability to arouse an emotional response in the viewer. Some works are intended to be beautiful or to inspire an intellectual response, while others may have a political message.
Some philosophers have tried to define what art is, but they have struggled to come up with a definitive answer. A common family of arguments, inspired by Wittgenstein’s remarks about games, is that the phenomena referred to by the term art are too diverse to admit of the unification that a satisfactory definition strives for. Another argument, inspired by Wittgenstein’s ideas about language going on holiday, is that a definition of art, were there to be one, would exert a stifling influence over artistic creativity.
In the past, some of the first examples of art were simply utilitarian objects, such as a carved wooden bowl or an arrowhead. But later, craftsmen started to think about how they could make their products look attractive as well as how functional they were. Some early works of art were even purely decorative, such as a painted cave painting of a group of hunters or a woven tapestry.
The modern understanding of art focuses on the creation of images, such as paintings or sculptures, that are meant to appeal to the spectator’s emotions. It has also become more common for art to have a message or a political agenda. Whether it is to promote peace, equality or patriotism, art is seen as an important way to encourage discussion of difficult issues.
There are also works of art that have no specific purpose and are simply designed to be beautiful or interesting to look at, such as a modernist sculpture or a painting with bright colours. Some works of art are designed to be a particular colour or to have a certain texture or shape. Other artists create pieces that challenge the boundaries of what is considered to be art, for example by combining different styles of art, such as abstract art or performance art.