Arts

Art washes the dust of everyday life away from the soul, Pablo Picasso.

You might want to read our free ebooks Art is everywhere! and Music for a gentle introduction to this topic.

Art is a diverse range of human activities in creating visual, auditory or performing artifacts, expressing the author’s imaginative, conceptual ideas, or technical skill, intended to be appreciated for their beauty or emotional power (Wikipedia, Arts).

Art is a large part of our everyday lives, even though many do not realize it.

• The first thing that comes to mind is painting. Leonardo da Vinci was one of the most talented artists ever.

Paintings, such as The Mona Lisa and The Last Supper, are considered to be among the world’s greatest artistic treasures. However, art is much more than that.

• Sculpture is the art of creating three-dimensional forms such as statues.

• Photography is another form of art like painting. Jonathan Jones described it very nicely: “The old masters painted the drama of life and death. Today, photography captures the human condition - better than any other.”

• Architecture is the art and science of planning, designing, and constructing buildings or other physical structures.

• Music is the art of thinking and dreaming with sounds. It is a universal language that crosses all boundaries and brings people together.

• Literature is the art of written work. “Literature is the foundation of humanity’s cultures, beliefs, and traditions. It serves as a reflection of reality, a product of art, and a window to an ideology. Everything that happens within a society can be written, recorded in, and learned from a piece of literature. Whether it be poetry or prose, literature provides insight, knowledge or wisdom, and emotion towards the person who partakes it entirely,” Literature is powerful, Literature defines humanity, by Angelo Lorenzo.

• Dance is the only art in which we ourselves are the stuff of which it is made (Ted Shawn).

• A nice quote about performing arts goes as follows: “Theatre is life, film is art, and television is furniture.”

In summary, there is art everywhere you look. It brings meaning and pleasure to our lives.