Artworks are objects or performances that have been created for a purpose, such as to express an idea, to communicate a message, to make people feel happy, or to entertain. They are a subset of the arts, which include dance, drama, fiction, poetry, motion picture, music, painting, printmaking, sculpture and decorative art, such as basketry, enamelwork, furniture, lacquerwork, pottery and stained glass. Artworks can be produced using a variety of mediums, including paint, pencil, ink, charcoal, paper, fabric and stone. The artist may use various techniques to create the artwork, such as blending colors, layering and shading.
There are many different theories about what makes something an artwork, and how to define it. Some theories are based on the physical properties of a work of art, while others are based on more philosophical or psychological concepts. Some of the most common types of art include sculpture, collage, paintings, prints and drawings. Other types of art include architecture, calligraphy, decorative arts, ceramics, and jewellery.
One of the most common theories about what constitutes an artwork is that it must have aesthetic properties. Aesthetic properties are those that a person finds pleasing or beautiful to look at, such as the shape and colour of a work. Another theory is that a work of art must be able to evoke a particular mood or emotion, such as sadness, fear, happiness or anger.
A third theory is that a work of art must have a message or purpose. The purpose of a work of art may be to inspire social change, as was the case with some 20th century art movements such as cubism and surrealism. Artworks can also be used for religious or spiritual purposes, or simply to entertain.
Conventional definitions of artworks rely on some form of conventional knowledge about the arts. They typically take a number of standard properties as being essential to an artwork, such as representational or mimetic, expressive, and formal properties. The problem with these definitions is that they are not clear or comprehensive enough to describe the vast range of works that artists produce.
Other definitions of an artwork rely on historical or cultural contexts. One example is cluster theorists, who hold that artworks are those things that belong to an art world, which is a group of art works that share a common heritage and history. This is similar to the way in which a biologist might describe a clade of organisms by the lineage that connects them.
A related theory is historical narrativism, which states that an artwork is that thing that is genuinely intended to be regarded as an artwork by members of the appropriate artworld. This is a diachronic view that contrasts with the synchronic nature of institutional definitions. It is not without its critics, however. One worry is that it seems to imply that certain things can be treated as artworks simply because they are part of the right lineage, irrespective of whether these artworks have any genuine artistic properties (Levinson 1990). This would lead to absurdities such as the claim that musical pieces or mathematical theorems qualify as art.