When you look up the definition of art in the Oxford dictionary, this is what you can read:
“The use of the imagination to express ideas or feelings, particularly in painting, drawing, or sculpture.”
Now you probably have famous paintings in mind that are admired by millions of people, but not only that is art. There are no limits to our imagination. Paintings, drawings, and sculptures are only the most common examples of art. If you look around you, you will most likely see it everywhere. People are always expressing their feelings, and just because they don’t share it with the world or don’t sell it, doesn’t mean that it is not art. Art is very subjective and hard to grasp. There are no rules and limits!
In the following, I listed five facts about art that will make you gasp and will give you an understanding of all the things that are included in the term “art.”
Fact 1: Art is therapeutic and good for your health
Since the 1940s, art therapy has existed. Margaret Naumburg and Edith Kramer came up with the idea of it and quickly saw results for their clients. Art helps a lot to express inner thoughts, feelings, and experiences, and therapists can encourage their clients to talk about their art and, therefore, about their feelings. It can be very helpful to increase self-awareness and to get rid of stress and anxiety. But over the years, art therapy has also moved outside of mental health facilities and into schools, shelters, nursing homes, residential treatment facilities, and halfway houses. It also has its benefits for physical health difficulties. With the reduction of stress, it also decreases its symptoms, so amongst others pain. Moreover, a lot of cancer and asthma patients, as well as adults with dementia and Parkinson’s, find help in art therapy. The stimulation of mental function and the reduction of stress and anxiety have a positive impact on the body as well.
Fact 2: Art can be expensive
Most of the very valuable art pieces created before the 19th century belong to museums where everybody can view them. They are considered priceless and most of them never get sold to private individuals. If you look at one of the most famous paintings to ever exist, the “Mona Lisa” by Leonardo da Vinci, and convert its original price of 100 million dollars into today’s standards, also taking inflation into account, that would be the equivalent of 860 million dollars.
An art piece that actually got sold for an insane amount of money is, for example, “Interchange” by Willem de Kooning (1955). It is an abstract expressionist work and shows an abstract urban landscape. Kenneth C. Griffin paid 328 million dollars for this work of art. So let me say that art can be really expensive!
Fact 3: Art made people famous
Nobody would pay this amount of money for art that nobody knows. We talked about the “Mona Lisa”; I am sure everybody has seen her before! There are a lot of very famous artists that died decades ago, but their art remains to be admired by millions of people.
A very good example of that is Leonado da Vinci. He was born in Italy on April 15, 1452, and died in France on May 2, 1519. Aside from the “Mona Lisa,” he also created the “Battle of Anghiari,” the “Last Supper,” “Leda,” and a number of other works.He was a representative of the early renaissance and the renaissance. Additionally, he studied anatomy, mechanics, and architecture. During his lifetime, he was already famed for his work, but after he died, and especially nowadays, he serves as a role model, applying the scientific method to every aspect of life, including art.
Fact 4: Art can be literally anything
A great example of that is “Marcel Duchamp’s Fountain”. Marcel Duchamp is a very important artist of the 20th century because of his radical views and bizarre ideas. He helped form the Surrealist movement and innovated “readymades”. “Readymades” are a form of art in which art is found in random everyday objects. “Marcel Duchamp’s Fountain” is a so-called “readymade”. It is basically a urinal with the signature “R. Mutt, 1917” on it. Duchamp had it photographed by Alfred Stieglitz even though people at first did not take the urinal seriously and did not accept it as art. It was too outrageous and nothing to be shown in public. Perhaps as a joke.Nevertheless, this idea of art changed everything. Art does not have to be created; it can be found everywhere around you! It is just the idea behind the actual object and the new point of view.
Fact 5: Art has been a part of the humans ever since
Art and humans basically evolved together. At least 30 000 years ago, our ancestors started to create art. The prehistoric paintings on the walls of many caves in Asia and Europe show human and animal figures as well as other small paintings. Art is important for us humans not only to crate tools and modify our surroundings, but also to make objects look more beautiful. Mankind has possessed this curiosity ever since, and there are many reasons for that. For example, the creation of a document of the time we are living in. In the prehistoric paintings, you can find reflections of humans hunting animals. Later, we have a lot of battle scenes and paintings of important people. Art is also often used to express religious beliefs, to criticise society or to educate people. You cannot find any time period in which no art was created, since it is an important part of being human.
These were five facts about art. I hope you learned something new and were as astonished as I was as I researched some of these facts. Maybe you can visit a museum in your area and experience the virtue of some art pieces in real life. Or you can even create your own art. Both are really nice activities to discover some creativity in yourself and get some new impressions to think about. I guarantee you, there are many more interesting facts about art to learn!
Sources:
https://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/definition/english/art_1 (oxforddictionairy, 26.10.2022)
https://www.canr.msu.edu/news/the_benefits_art_therapy_can_have_on_mental_and_physical_health (Holly Tiret, 27.10.2022)
https://artincontext.org/most-expensive-paintings/ (artincontext, 27.10.2022)
https://www.mos.org/leonardo/node/1 (Museum of Science, Boston, 27.10.2022)
https://owlcation.com/humanities/The-10-Most-Unlikely-Works-of-Art (Andrew Spacey, 27.10.2022)
https://study.com/academy/lesson/why-do-humans-make-art-history-value.html (David Juliao, 1.11.2022)