Art is a term that takes all that creation and representation that has been made by humans and that tries to express and show a sentimental perception about the world, an imaginary world or a real world.
To make this representation, products such as plastic, sound products or even the language itself are used, in addition the definition of art also includes the fact that art tries to show different sensations, feelings, emotions, ideas and points of view, where the Creator of the works has the purpose of showing his work, which expresses his need to contribute to social and personal development, so that it is admired by his peers.
The definition of art evolves and it is a subjective term, being able to call as art the set of artistic works and movements corresponding to a time, a style or a country and to indicate a capacity, a virtue or an ability to do something.
Art can also be defined as the set of disciplines that are oriented to an expressive and aesthetic purpose, presenting human activities with a capacity for expression and aesthetics with a sense and a reason for being.
In the strict sense, art needs an aesthetic sense, to differentiate itself from technique, which would be the broad and primitive sense of the word art. We can put as an example to better understand a person who makes an invention that is useful, safe, and comfortable, he will be a good technician, but for it to be an artistic work that creation must be beautiful.
That is why we say that it has to have an aesthetic sense, art has to express beauty, through painting, music, poetry, dance, etc., and express human feelings of joy, sadness, concern, wonder, doubt, etcetera, which materializes in creations that reflect reality or distort it in a conscious way.
Art not only fulfills the mission of expressing the feelings of its creator, but in many cases it contributes to social change, through denunciations and social criticism.
History of art in the world
The definition of art is usually associated with that of a developed culture, but artistic expressions can be found since the beginning of humanity , a reason that suggests that the expressive vocation is innate to the human race. It is possible to find cave paintings, called rock art in our days, which used prehistoric men and who tell us in their own way the vicissitudes of their daily life, being the first recorded forms of expression.
In that period art had a very specific function which was used for rituals and for magical-religious representations, but without a doubt over time it was developing and creating new themes and art and new functions.
Therefore, art was changing and developing little by little, everything depended on the time in which they will be found and also on the culture of the population, but these manifestations were not valued, not even in antiquity, where they were called arts. vulgar, nor in the Middle Ages, where under the name of liberal arts, university education, different cultural expressions were included, but they did not all respond to the concept of art in the strict sense.
Having reached the Italian Renaissance, that is, at the end of the 15th century, art underwent a great development and a difference between fine arts and crafts began . Therefore, the crafts or craftsman was the person who could produce or manufacture various works and the artist was the person who created and carried out peculiar, special and unique works.
For this simple reason, the Italian Renaissance was one of the most important and outstanding periods in the History of Art . Although that was not a sole reason to highlight it as an important stage, it was also highlighted because in that period various magnificent and amazing artists were discovered who made multiple works of famous art today.
An example of these artists could be the famous Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Donatello, Titian or Raphael and especially their outstanding works such as “La Gioconda”, “The Sistine Chapel”, “Gattamelata”, “Venus de Urbino” and “The Marriage of the Virgin”, although evidently these great artists had several other works that were highlighted.
Classification of art disciplines
Thus, art would be composed of various activities, among which architecture stands out , which focuses on the construction of buildings; dance, which consists of the execution of movements of the body to the sound of a rhythm; sculpture, which is oriented towards molding and carving various figures; music, which organizes sounds and silences harmoniously; painting , which is the graphic representation by means of pigments; and finally, literature, which uses the word. Centuries later, cinema was introduced as the seventh discipline within art and there were even people who named photographythe eighth discipline and the comic the ninth.
Despite these limited approaches, it must be taken into account that the concept of art is far from being closed, and other variants and reflections may be found around it. The truth is that beyond all discrepancies, the works that countless artists bequeathed to us make our existence more enjoyable.
Nowadays, on many occasions, fashion, video games, television and advertising have been introduced as artistic disciplines. Without a doubt, art is called something that has an incomparable value and beauty.
On the other hand, in addition to this way of distinguishing the disciplines, we can also distinguish between: Visual Arts (Architecture, Body Art, Digital Art, Ephemeral Art, Applied Arts, Graphic Arts, Industrial Arts, Cinematography, Drawing, Design, Sculpture, Photography, Engraving, Cartoon and Painting), Performing arts (dance and theater), Musical arts (Choral singing, opera and symphonic music) and literary arts (Narrative, Poetry and Drama).
As it is said that all creation that is pleasing to the eye can be considered art, which of course refers to the subjectivity, both of the creator and the observer, who prints their own value judgment on the work observed, heard or read according to the time, in which it was made and its current vision, the list of art disciplines cannot be closed since its own representation of the beautiful and the canons of the society that judges the work, can change and evolve, being able to find other variants and reflections in around art.
Best works of art in history
As we have already said, a work of art has to be an artistic creation and be a beautiful work. Here we have some works and artistic monuments that UNESCO has listed as works of art that have incalculable value and unmatched beauty:
The Mosque of Córdoba, the Alhambra in Granada, the Cathedral of Seville or the Archaeological Site of Atapuerca.
However, all over the world there are monuments that receive this same cataloging. Among these are the Tiwanaku Temple in Bolivia, the Chiloé Churches in Chile, the historic center of Lima or the Castillo de San Pedro de la Roca in Santiago de Cuba.
We cannot forget either the Royal Palaces of Abomey in Benin, the Chichen Itza in Mexico, the Statue of Liberty in the United States, the necropolis in Egypt, the Church of the Nativity in Palestine or the Durham Castle in the United Kingdom.