When people think of art, they often envision iconic works like the Mona Lisa and frescoes from the Sistine Chapel. But art history is much more than a collection of masterpieces by iconic artists. It’s a panoramic view of humanity, a timeline textured with the very fibers of our shared experiences.
Art has always played many roles in human culture, from a source of pleasure to an agent of social change. Across continents and centuries, artworks have chronicled our collective emotional psyche, acting as barometers for societal moods and a record of common fears, hopes, and dreams.
It has also been a tool to communicate ideas that go beyond words, and it has even served as a ritualistic and symbolic form of communication. In the past, societies would adorn their homes with statues of gods or ancestors to protect them from demons and spirits. These religious works of art were also used as a form of communication between the gods and humans, establishing a link to supernatural powers and bringing the divine closer to earthly life.
More recently, the concept of art has become increasingly fluid as new media and forms of expression challenge traditional definitions. Art historian and curator Stephen Davies, for example, has proposed a hybrid definition that considers a work of art to be (a) an object with a distinctive form; (b) an object made in response to an artistic goal that requires skill and achievement to realize; or (c) an object that falls within a culturally defined genre, art form or tradition.
Regardless of which definition is considered, a central question remains: Why is art important? The answer lies in the many functions that art has served throughout human history. These include aesthetic, expressive, communicative, educational, therapeutic and social. Art has been instrumental in human development and social cohesion since prehistoric times, a medium through which we creatively represent our perceptions and emotions.
Art has also been a vehicle for spiritual and philosophical exploration. For instance, the Egyptians adorned their temples with images of gods and goddesses that elevated natural things to supernatural levels. Similarly, the Greeks developed a pantheon of mythological beings that they represented through figurative sculpture and painting. In the 19th century, Impressionists explored the properties of light and color, mirroring physicists’ discoveries about its spectrum and wave nature.
These varied functions demonstrate that art is an important part of our human experience, a means to understand and explore the world around us. As you begin to teach students about art history, use this article as a guide to help them understand the many purposes of art and why it’s so important to human society.