Coming from a psychological background, I am very interested in the way art (both making it and viewing it) interacts with our psyche and perception. However, it is very difficult to define art based solely on the sensation and perception that comes into play when we interact with art. It's clear that art can have an emotional and psychological effect on us, but why? Is it because we apply meaning to what we see? Is it because we are geared, as creatures with culture, to find meaning in various subjects? Or does art have its own, innate power to move us, and that's why we feel the way we do about it?
I can't reasonably say that art is only meaningful because someone intentionally created it with meaning, because like many others, I find natural landscapes (and especially skyscapes) to be beautiful in what in class classifies as a sublime way. And that was not created by any man (at least not a mortal one). So why do we find beauty in things? Why are we so compelled by beauty as to study it, and for some people, to dedicate their whole lives to it?
Unfortunately neither philosophy nor psychology can give any concrete answers to these questions! But exploring the possible answers helps expand our imaginations nonetheless.
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