Art is the human gift of expressing emotion in ways that other people can understand. It’s the way we express our innermost feelings, desires and imagination – the things that make us unique. It can also be the means to convey something that is a part of everyone’s experience – whether it’s beauty, humour or a sense of wonder. It is a way of grasping the world, not just the physical world that science attempts to do but the wider world of people and their spiritual experience of it as well.
Whether it’s a piece of sculpture, a painting or a photograph, all artwork has a certain power to influence the mind and emotions. The reason for this is that it has the ability to stimulate our curiosity. When we view a work of art, it causes a response in the viewer, ranging from a simple physiological reaction such as a feeling of relaxation or excitement, to an intellectual puzzle that requires our attention and reflection. This is why so many people find it fascinating to look at, discuss and interpret art.
For centuries, art was seen as a skill that could be acquired through practice and hard work. But after the rise of Romanticism and individualism, the concept of art began to change. Artists started to redefine what art meant, shifting away from a focus on craftsmanship and traditional ideas of order, harmony and representation, towards originality and seeing the world in new ways.
In some cases, the art was not intended to communicate any specific message or idea. But other times it did have a particular meaning that was hidden within the image, or there would be a symbolic significance of the art. This is often called allegory, and it can be found in paintings, sculptures, prints, poems and novels.
Other times the purpose of the art was to bring about a political or social change, and this was the motivation behind some of the early 20th-century artistic movements such as Dadaism, Surrealism, Russian constructivism and Abstract Expressionism. Art can also serve ritualistic or symbolic functions, and a range of cultures use their own visual symbols to represent their own beliefs.
Does the artwork contain elements that captivate a human instinctual response, such as items that are informative, shocking or threatening for humans (i.e. dangerous locations; abnormally positioned items; human faces or gaze; motion; text)? Research using brain mapping has shown that these are the elements that catch our eye most.
When an artwork evokes a positive or emotional response in the viewer, this can help to improve wellbeing. For example, in a healthcare setting, art can provide a distraction to help alleviate boredom, stress and negative moods, such as anxiety or depression. It can also assist in promoting patient recovery, as it helps to improve the overall patient experience. This has been backed up by studies showing that patients who have access to art have more successful treatment outcomes than those who don’t have any.