Meaning of Art

The art (from the Latin ars) is the concept that encompasses all creations made by humans to express a sensitive vision about the world, whether real or imaginary. Through plastic, linguistic or sound resources, art allows to express ideas, emotions, perceptions and sensations.

The story indicates that, with the emergence of the Homo Sapiens, art had a role ritual and magical-religious, which was changing with the passing of time. In any case, the definition of art varies according to the time and culture.

With the Italian Renaissance, at the end of the 15th century, a distinction began to be made between crafts and fine arts. The artisan is one who is dedicated to producing multiple works, while the artist is the creator of unique works.

It is precisely in the Italian Renaissance where we find one of the most important stages in the History of Art, both for the magnificent artists who worked on it and for the surprising works that they undertook and which are now praised throughout the world.

Thus, for example, we would have to highlight figures of the stature of Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Donatello, Titian or Rafael. And as for works we would highlight, for example, “La Gioconda”, “The Sistine Chapel”, “Gattamelata”, “Venus de Urbino” and “The Marriage of the Virgin” respectively.

The classification used in ancient Greece included six disciplines within art: architecture, dance, sculpture, music, painting, and poetry (literature). Later, it began to be included in the cinema as the seventh art. There are also those who name photography as the eighth art (although it is often alleged that it is an extension of painting) and comic books as the ninth (its detractors indicate that it is, in fact, a bridge between painting and cinema). The television, the fashion, advertising and video games are other disciplines that are sometimes considered artistic.

In this sense, it should be noted that UNESCO is dedicated to cataloging those works and artistic monuments that have incalculable value and unmatched beauty. In this case we could speak, for example, of the Mosque of Córdoba, the Alhambra in Granada, the Cathedral of Seville or the Archaeological Site of Atapuerca.

However, throughout the world there are monuments that receive this same classification. Among them are the Tiwanaku Temple in Bolivia, the Churches of Chiloé in Chile, the historic center of Lima or the Castle of San Pedro de la Roca in Santiago de Cuba.

And all this without forgetting 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 Durham Castle in the United Kingdom.

Over time, artistic creations often suffer significant deterioration. For this reason, the set of processes dedicated to the preservation of these cultural assets for the future is known as the conservation and restoration of works of art.

In addition to all the above, we must emphasize that the term art is also used to refer to the skill or cunning that a person has to carry out a specific task.