How would you define art? For many people, art is a specific thing: a painting, sculpture, photograph, a dance, a poem, or a play. It is all of these things, and more. They are a medium of artistic expression. 

Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary defines art as the "conscious use of skill and creative imagination especially in the production of aesthetic objects."

Yet art is much more than a medium or words on a page. It is the expression of our experience.

Joseph Brodsky hints at a definition of art in his poem New Life:

Ultimately, one's unbound
curiosity about these empty zones,
about these objectless vistas,
is what art seems to be all about.

Art is uniquely human and tied directly to culture. It takes the ordinary and makes it extraordinary. It asks questions about who we are, what we value, the meaning of beauty, and the human condition. As an expressive medium, it allows us to experience sublime joy, deep sorrow, confusion, and clarity. It tests our strengths, vulnerabilities, and resolve. It voices ideas and feelings, connects us to the past, reflects the present, and anticipates the future.

Along these lines, art history, combined with anthropology and literature, is the three main sources for observing, recording, and interpreting our human past. Visual art is a rich and complex subject whose definition is in flux as the culture around it changes.

Because of this, how we define art is, in essence, a question of agreement. In this respect, we can look again at the dictionary's definition to understand exactly what to look for when we proclaim something as art.


Saylor Academy Knowledge Check


Source: Christopher Gildow, http://opencourselibrary.org/art-100-art-appreciation/

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