Aesthetics

Art is a wonderful and beautiful thing that shapes our world and inspires many people. Everyone can appreciate, enjoy and even create art. But, what makes a piece of artwork good or bad? What is the main purpose of art?

Two theories attempt to explain what the purpose of art should be. The first theory, Formalism, states that art’s purpose is to represent certain forms or ideals that structure our reality and guide our behavior. The other theory, Romanticism, states that a major part of art’s purpose is to express non-rational emotions and to make the viewers aware of a more transcendent and mysterious reality.

While both may be plausible explanations of art’s purpose, the best explanation is romanticism. Of course it is interesting to observe more realistic pieces of art that represent our reality but it is not as interesting as observing art that represents the unknown. Everyday we see the world around us and we understand it. So, when we see our own reality portrayed in formalistic artwork it tends to be a bit repetitive and not as exciting. However, it is not everyday that we observe things that represent a mysterious reality. Seeing certain artwork should evoke awe and fascination from within us. Romantic types of artwork are able to do just that. Romantic artwork, which includes paintings, literature or poetry, makes us really think and question the norms of the world around us. It provides us with the captivating idea that there is more out there beyond our own reality, emotions and understanding.

Explanatory breadth- Romanticism definitely has more explanatory breadth than formalism. Romantic pieces of art do not have to represent reality. They can represent anything in our own universe as well as aspects of other imaginary universes. Therefore, romantic pieces of artwork have much more room for creativity, imagination and interpretation. Romantic artwork can be absolutely anything imaginable whereas, formalistic artwork can only be pieces of art that coincide with things from our reality. Formalistic artwork has little room for creativity and exploration. Therefore, formalistic artwork has much less breadth.

Explanatory depth- Romanticism has more explanatory depth than formalism does. Romantic art attempts to explain and interpret emotions and other realities that we cannot comprehend. To think of worlds and emotions outside of our own is a deep and philosophical concept. It makes us more in touch with our own emotions and all the nature around us. It takes much time and creativity to make a romantic piece of art. It also takes much more brainpower to interpret romantic pieces of art. Meanwhile, formalistic art only explains and symbolizes things from our own reality. This is a basic concept that we can understand and easily interpret. It doesn’t take as much thought to interpret formalistic art either. Not as much creativity goes into creating formalistic art as it does with romantic artwork.

Simplicity- Formalism assumes less than romanticism does. Formalistic types of art can be interpreted easily with little debate or question. While romanticism has many different types of styles and forms that evoke non-rational emotions from within us, formalism does not. Formalism only has two types of styles- abstract and figurative formalism. But, even both of these forms are very simple and require less thought provocation. They can only evoke rational types of pleasure from within us. Formalism has fewer ideas to work with than romanticism does. Therefore, formalism is the more simplistic idea.

Conservatism- In today’s society, we can see many different kinds of artwork that are strange, unusual and represent realities far beyond our understanding. In older times, people were not as accepting of art that was strange or nonrealistic. But, now-a-days people will more readily accept art that portrays the supernatural or the unknown. Even most of the movies or television shows in modern times are about ghosts, aliens, demons, monsters, etc. People even like to read and appreciate romantic literature now a days such as Edgar Allen Poe or Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. Abstract romantic art pieces can be found in art exhibits and in people’s homes all across the globe. While people may still appreciate formalistic art, it is not as popular as romantic pieces of artwork. Therefore, romanticism is the more conservative idea.

1.     Romanticism and Formalism are the most plausible explanations for the purpose of art.

2.     Romanticism has much more explanatory breadth, explanatory depth and conservatism, whereas formalism only has a little more simplicity.

3.     Therefore, Romanticism is the best explanation for the purpose of art.