What Is the Purpose of Art

Cueva de las Manos, Argentina

Cueva de las Manos, Argentina

 

Many people have asked themselves this question.

An American writer who dealt with depression for decades said that good fiction relieves loneliness.

A domineering American filmmaker claimed that, since the universe is indifferent to our existence, art helps us make our own meaning.

A Midwestern American man who enjoyed cars and cigarettes claimed that novelists dampen their neuroses by making stuff up, and that all other explanations are bunk.

A tough Brit said that artists make art in order to live after death, be liked, give pleasure, present facts, and affect political change.

A fabulous Irishman said that art, like a flower, has no purpose, and that is why it is wonderful.

A German who, at his best, threw his arms around a horse being beaten in the street, pointed out that art enhances life by making it more interesting and exuberant.

A German who pushed an old woman down a flight of stairs for being loud claimed that music is a direct representation of the animating force of the universe, and that art is a strong but short-lived narcotic from suffering.

A German who loved taking walks argued that art is subjective; your beautiful is not my beautiful.

A guy deeply haunted by his childhood theft of some pears said that art’s beauty reminds us of God. His point being that beauty is ordered, and natural things are ordered, and God perfectly and infinitely ordered.

A dead Roman thought that art is imitative of nature, but that one could live artfully.

A brilliant student of an old dead Greek thought that theatre was for communally confronting the cruelties of fate and feeling catharsis.

His old Greek teacher thought that art is for moral instruction; art is educational.

An even older dead Greek probably didn’t think much about art as he sang it on the road and in festivals.

The oldest artists—those who made cave paintings and small carved effigies—probably didn’t consider themselves doing anything other than expressing and praising spirit, which permeated all.

And now you must answer this question for yourself.

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