How to Define and Analyze Art

For many people, art is anything that stirs emotions. What those emotions are depends on your history, your story—basically everything that comes together to make you who you are. That means that three different people might experience the same piece of art and have wildly different reactions to it. And none of them would be wrong.

Traditionally, art has been defined as the way we express our innermost feelings, thoughts, and emotions. But the concept of art has been evolving over time, influenced by changes in culture and philosophy. For example, during the era of Romanticism, art became about the individual artist and their unique style. And in the era of Modernism, art came to mean originality and trying something new and never-seen-before.

A lot of students are tasked with writing art history essays for school assignments. These assignments typically ask learners to write about visual material—like paintings, sculptures, and photographs—and compare them to each other based on various criteria. While some of these criteria are easy to understand, others are more challenging to define and analyze.

To help with these assignments, this handout offers a few tips on approaching and analyzing visual material. It also discusses some common strategies used by artists and art historians to evaluate a work of art.

A great place to start when looking at a piece of art is by looking at its proportions. Are any elements disproportionately larger or smaller than they would be in reality? This is often a sign that the piece of art was intentionally designed to stand out and grab your attention.

Another important aspect of a work of art is its subject. Does it depict a human being, animal, or plant? Does it have a message or theme? Art can be an effective tool for delivering a specific message or idea, as well as serving as a way to record and preserve a particular cultural heritage.

In the past, there have been a number of books written about art history. One of the first was Giorgio Vasari’s Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects of the Italian Renaissance, which ushered in the Western tradition of art history as we know it. Its main drawback was its titanic omission of women artists—Vasari didn’t believe women should be considered worthy subjects of serious artistic attention.

Other popular books include Art Since 1900 and The Book that Changed the World: How Painting, Sculpture, Architecture, and Music Became What They Are Today. These books offer an in-depth look at the evolution of art, but they are also quite long. If you’re a beginner in art history, it might be helpful to read shorter books or online articles that provide a more succinct introduction. A good resource is Smarthistory’s introductory course that whisks you through centuries of art using contributions from more than 200 scholars. This no-frills course features a comprehensive syllabus that includes links to videos and articles. You can find it here.

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