Artworks are things that can be regarded as having aesthetic value, which means that they appeal to the senses in some way. They are created with a wide range of techniques and mediums and many artists today tend to combine several types of media in their work. For example, a painting may contain oil on canvas, watercolour or acrylic paints and it may be embellished with gold or silver leaf. Artworks can be found in museums, private collections, galleries and other venues. Some are even displayed on the Internet.
A basic definition of an artwork is a “work intended to be capable of affording experiences with markedly aesthetic character.” This has been called the Monroe Beardsley definition, after its author. A more sophisticated version of this definition holds that an artwork is a “work with the ability to affect in a sensitive and meaningful way the senses in the person experiencing it.” This is the more common and accepted definition of an artwork.
It has been argued that some forms of cultural production, such as a theatrical performance or a musical concert, are artworks, although it is difficult to agree on what characteristics make these activities artworks. Similarly, some kinds of anthropological and ethnographic objects are sometimes treated as works of art, such as traditional weavings, carved totem poles or stone monuments. In addition, some conceptual and Dada artworks have been deemed to be artworks.
Many writers have discussed the notion that some artworks are not simply representations of reality, but actually create a certain kind of truth in their cultures. The German philosopher Martin Heidegger has been especially influential in this regard. He described the essence of art as a way to reveal “that which is” in a culture. He argued that the act of creating art, and the experience of it, is a transcendently spiritual experience that elevates life and gives it meaning.
Another view of the nature of an artwork is one that tries to explain its status in terms of the institutional or social kind in which it belongs. An important variant of this view is the cluster theory, which offers a list of properties that all artworks must have (the standard candidates are representational, expressive and formal properties). This kind of approach is often criticized for lacking a substantive characterization of what makes something an art object, as well as a clear account of how the existence of an art object can be established.
An alternative is the cladistic definition, which holds that an artwork is anything that can be characterized as belonging to an art tradition and artworld. This theory is controversial because it seems to imply that some humankind traditions cannot die, and that it is impossible for nonhuman species to make artworks. It also seems to imply that it is possible for people to miscategorize an object as an artwork, and thus that the concept of an artwork can be problematic.