“Art is not an end in itself, but a means of addressing humanity.”
Modest Mussorgsky
As philosopher Richard Wollheim says, art is “one of the most elusive of the traditional problems of human culture.” In its simplest manifestation, art is a form of communication that serves as a vehicle for the expression of emotions and ideas. As ideas and beliefs are culturally specific and constantly changing over time, there really is no generally agreed definition of what constitutes art. That being said, the classical branches of the visual arts are identified as painting, sculpture and architecture. Literature and poetry are considered part of the humanities or as one of the arts, while music, alongside theatre, film and dance belong to the performing arts. In this section you will discover not only specific explorations of individual art forms, but also a more detailed probing of the relationship between the visual arts and music, including painting and music, sculpture and music and architecture and music. Originally, poetry and music were treated as a unity, but gradually they have become more independent. Nevertheless, the two art forms have never forgotten their shared genetic makeup, and been intertwined for millennia. Art and music have engaged in a dynamic relationship that reveals a diverse range of human activity intended to be appreciated for their beauty.
Britta Byström: Ink-Wash on Paper Swedish artist Gunnel Wåhlstrand (b. 1974) creates images of the real world but using only ink. Her technique of ink wash, which uses ink on watercolour paper, an absorbent medium, is created by layering the
Born on 30 December 1865 in Bombay, what today is Mumbai, India, Rudyard Kipling is remembered for his poems and stories of British soldiers in India, and tales for children. Incredibly popular in the late 19th and early 20th century,
Michael Daugherty: Fire and Blood In 1933, a set of 27 fresco panels by the Mexican artist Diego Rivera was unveiled at the Detroit Institute of Arts (DIA). Rivera (1886–1957) brought the idea of murals to life. His enormous works,
The image itself is familiar enough: a green lawn with pink flamingos on it. This sculpture was created in 1957 by the American artist Don Featherstone as part of his work for Union Products, an injection mould plastics company. All
In his 1990 work …as others see us…, Scottish composer James MacMillan chose paintings in the National Portrait Gallery to depict in music. He started with a line from the Scottish poet Robert Burns, who wished for the gift ‘to
American composer John Harbison (b. 1938) was commissioned to write a piece for radio station WGUC (Cincinnati) for their general manager, Ann Santos, for the Cincinnati Symphony’s principal flautist, Randall Bowman. The premiere of the work with Bowman was in
Carlos Simon: The Block In 1971, American artist Romare Bearden looked out the window of his friend Albert Murray’s Lenox Avenue apartment and was inspired to create an epic narrative out of something that was very familiar and ordinary: a
Following the victory of Spain’s Nationalist party in the Spanish Civil War (1936–1939) and the rule of fascist Franciso Franco, the orphans of the dead Republican fighters were sent out of the country. The USSR, a support of the Republican
