art

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"Self-Portrait with Straw Hat (verso: The Potato Peeler)," oil on canvas by Vincent van Gogh, 1887. In the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. 40.6 x 31.8 cm.

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Members of the public view artwork by Damien Hirst entitled: The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living - in the Tate Modern art gallery on April 2, 2012 in London, England. (see notes) (1991) Tiger shark, glass, steel

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Four year old boy with grandfather and father lighting Hanukkah menorah. Photo taken on: December 21st, 2009

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art

Also known as: art

Written and fact-checked by The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica

Last Updated: Dec 9, 2024 • Article History

Also called (to distinguish it from other art forms):: visual art

Key People:: John Ruskin; Wassily Kandinsky; James McNeill Whistler; Lorenzo de’ Medici; Mi Fu

Related Topics:: Japanese art; architecture; film; Oceanic art and architecture; printmaking

On the Web:: PhilArchive - What is art? - a philosophical definition (Dec. 09, 2024)

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art, a visual object or experience consciously created through an expression of skill or imagination. The term art encompasses diverse media such as painting, sculpture, printmaking, drawing, decorative arts, photography, and installation. (Read Sister Wendy’s Britannica essay on art appreciation.) The various visual arts exist within a continuum that ranges from purely aesthetic purposes at one end to purely utilitarian purposes at the other. Such a polarity of purpose is reflected in the commonly used terms artist and artisan, the latter understood as one who gives considerable attention to the utilitarian. This should by no means be taken as a ...(100 of 487 words)

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