What makes great Art

The aim of art is to represent not the outward appearance of things, but their inward significance.

~Aristotle

The true work of art is but a shadow of the divine perfection.

~Michelangelo

Art enables us to find ourselves and lose ourselves at the same time.

~Thomas Merton

Art is not a handicraft, it is the transmission of feeling the artist has experienced.

~Leo Tolstoy

Every human is an artist. The dream of your life is to make beautiful art.

~Don Miguel Ruiz

We all know that Art is not truth. Art is a lie that makes us realize the truth, at least the truth that is given to us to understand.

~Pablo Picasso

____________________________________________________________________________

What is it exactly that makes great art? How are some books, paintings, or architecture able to stand the test of time and still seem relevant today?

There is something that can be felt but not adequately described (but I’ll try anyway) about any form of art that touches us deeply. In our modern age, it’s usually a movie that we see, but it could also be a book — hopefully people still read these days!

Consider the last time you saw something — usually it’s with our eyes that we sense these things, but it could be taste and smell, for example, with some artfully cooked food, however, that doesn’t usually last very long — that you knew was beyond the typical or mundane.

We don’t need a movie or food critique? to tell us when something is transcendent, we can sense it for ourselves. There is almost an energy that emanates from whatever it is that attracts us.

There are several aspects that I believe makes great art which I’ll list below, and then go through them more indepth one-by-one:

• What initially motivated us?
• How do we transmit the art?
• What is the intended goal?

What initially motivated us?

Inspired by Presence/Doing it from your Being/Speaking the living word

How do we transmit the art?

Touches our Hero’s Journey/Communicates perennial life theme

What is the intended goal?

Not caring what others think/Non-attachment to the results