Dictionaries give us simple definitions of art, such as “Human skill as opposed to nature” (Webster) and “The Creation of Works of Beauty” (Collins).

Human-beings have always felt an urge to express certain emotions through various forms of art.

Can art be old-fashioned? Picasso once said something like, “The Greek art, the Egyptians and the classic painters that lived in other times is not an art which belongs to the past. It is may be more alive today than ever. Art does not develop by itself. Human conceptions changes, and with that the way it expresses itself”.

As mankind was developing and changing, so was the way it expressed itself and this continues today.

Art is a powerful thing: it unites people, gives them a common experience of beauty, but also an opportunity for reflection and discussion. Art has been used to promote political and religious messages; it provokes, it pleases and it irritates.

Art gives rise to certain emotions, both good and bad: the song you heard the day you met your sweetheart – you`ll never forget it. When listening to that song twenty years later, that same emotion can be felt and memories can easily surface. Fragrances, colours, music, taste, sadness, happiness and much more can all be brought back just by listening to a piece of music or looking at a certain picture.

Is art only about beauty? That is a very difficult question to answer, as it is also very difficult to explain what art actually is. It is, however, no coincidence that women are so often painted, written and sung about. Perhaps nothing better represents perfection, comfort, beauty and hope, more than a painting of a beautiful woman.

What is good art? What is bad art? Maybe we should ask what promotes the good and what promotes the bad in art. l remember being at a theatre performance in Hamburg, Germany, many years ago. In one scene a woman had oral sex with a Christ figure on the cross. What motivates artists and scriptwriters to create scenes like this? What is the message? l imagine that the vast majority of us would have problems with a play like this and many would not even consider whether the play had artistic merit.

However, there is no doubt that art that promotes the bad, the evil and the destructive, can be good artistically. l am not defending the naive, but society clearly needs what promotes the good, the safe and the comfortable, that which forgives and provides a fresh start.

The excellent Swedish author, Henning Mankell, claims in one of his crime books that there is no evil, just evil circumstances. l am convinced that he is wrong on that point: the good and the bad are there, in the atmosphere, around us, in us. Sometimes we do good, sometimes bad, in everything, including our art. Whether we like it or not, we project certain messages, and these can be either good or bad. Art represents so much, and in ancient times much of the art was obviously done to leave a legacy behind for future generations. History was depicted in paintings and drawings long before it was recorded in written form. We normally associate the first written language with the first civilizations; art, however, appeared thousands of years before the first civilizations.

Art comforts, divides, unites, makes us cry, makes us laugh, irritates, pleases, make us homesick, make us miss people, places and things. Art reflects both the good and the bad in life itself. To be an artist can be an ordeal. Nowhere else can one find so many records of suffering and struggle as in art galleries, between the covers of books and even in CD racks.

One could write endless of books on the topic “What is art?”

Anyway, art is art, whether we know what it is or not. Art is a result of the human desire to create, to build, to mould, to express, to entertain and to be entertained, to comfort and so much more. Art tells us stories, brings forward and emphasises those emotions that most of us have, but have difficulty in expressing. It is not a coincidence that art makes such tremendous progress in time of war.

Whatever art may be, be happy with and enjoy the world of art.

l would like to dedicate this little art reflection of mine to all those who found it too hard, and who did not make it, did not make life itself and are no longer with us.

You made life a little bit easier for the rest of us

You might also wish to visit: Department of Art History