art, also called (to distinguish it from other art forms) visual art, a visual object or experience consciously

created through an expression of skill or imagination. The term art encompasses diverse media such as
painting, sculpture, printmaking, drawing, decorative arts, photography, and installation.

Learn about the significance of women in art at the National Museum of Women in the Arts

Learn about the significance of women in art at the National Museum of Women in the Arts

A discussion concerning the significance of art, and women artists in particular, from the documentary A
Woman's Touch: National Museum of Women in the Arts.

Great Museums Television (A Britannica Publishing Partner)

See all videos for this article

The various visual arts exist within a continuum that ranges from purely aesthetic purposes at one end
to purely utilitarian purposes at the other. Such a polarity of purpose is reflected in the commonly used
terms artist and artisan, the latter understood as one who gives considerable attention to the utilitarian.
This should by no means be taken as a rigid scheme, however. Even within one form of art, motives may
vary widely; thus a potter or a weaver may create a highly functional work that is at the same time
beautiful—a salad bowl, for example, or a blanket—or may create works that have no purpose beyond
being admired. In cultures such as those of Africa and Oceania, a definition of art that encompasses this
continuum has existed for centuries. In the West, however, by the mid-18th century the development of
academies for painting and sculpture established a sense that these media were “art” and therefore
separate from more utilitarian media. This separation of art forms continued among art institutions until
the late 20th century, when such rigid distinctions began to be questioned.

memorial board

memorial board

Memorial board, wood. From the Sawos people, Sepik central coast, Papua New Guinea, in the Museum
of Ethnology, Berlin.

Museum für Völkerkunde, Staatliche Museen zu Berling—Preussischer Kulturbesitz; photograph,

Dietrich Graf

The Creation of Adam to the Flood, detail of the ceiling fresco in the Sistine Chapel, Vatican, by
Michelangelo Buonarroti (1475-1564), painted 1508-12. Location: Sistine Chapel, Vatican Palace, Vatican
State

BRITANNICA QUIZ

Which Came First: Art Edition

Think you have your art chronology straight? See if you can guess which of these works, techniques, and
styles came first.

Particularly in the 20th century, a different sort of debate arose over the definition of art. A seminal
moment in this discussion occurred in 1917, when Dada artist Marcel Duchamp submitted a porcelain
urinal entitled Fountain to a public exhibition in New York City. Through this act, Duchamp put forth a
new definition of what constitutes a work of art: he implied that it is enough for an artist to deem
something “art” and put it in a publicly accepted venue. Implicit within this gesture was a challenge to
the established art institutions—such as museums, exhibiting groups, and galleries—that have the
power to determine what is and is not considered art. Such intellectual experimentation continued
throughout the 20th century in movements such as conceptual art and minimalism. By the turn of the
21st century, a variety of new media (e.g., video art) further challenged traditional definitions of art.

Duchamp, Marcel: Fountain

Duchamp, Marcel: Fountain

Fountain, ready-made by Marcel Duchamp, 1964 replica of 1917 original (now lost); in Tate Modern,
London.

© Bettmann/Corbis

Art is treated in a number of articles. For general discussions of the foundations, principles, practice, and
character of art, see aesthetics. See also art conservation and restoration.

For the technical and theoretical aspects of traditional categories of art, see drawing; painting;
printmaking; sculpture. For technical and historical discussions of decorative arts and furnishings, see
basketry; enamelwork; floral decoration; furniture; glassware; interior design; lacquerwork; metalwork;
mosaic; pottery; rug and carpet; stained glass; tapestry. See photography for a complete history of that
medium.

For treatments of the various arts as practiced by specific peoples and cultures, see, for example, African
art; Central Asian arts; Egyptian art and architecture; Islamic arts; Oceanic art and architecture; S