Philosophical

Perspective
of
Art as a Communication
of Emotion

• The author of War and Peace and

Anna Karenina, Leo Tolstoy, provided
another perspective on what art is. In
his book, What is Art (2016), Tolstoy
defended the production of the
sometimes truly extravagant art, like
operas, despite extreme poverty in the
worl
• For him, art plays a huge role in
communication to its audience's emotions that
the artist previously experienced.

• Art then serves as a language, a communication

device that articulates feelings and emotions that
are otherwise unavailable to the audience. In the
same way that language communicates
information to other people, art communicates
emotions.
• Tolstoy is fighting for the social dimension of
art. As a purveyor of man's innermost feelings
and thoughts, art is given a unique opportunity to
serve as a mechanism for social unity.

• Art is central to man's existence because it

makes accessible feelings and emotions of people
from the past and present, from one continent to
another.
• In making these possibly latent feelings and
emotions accessible to anyone in varied time
and location, art serves as a mechanism of
cohesion for everyone.

• Thus, even at present, one can commune with

early Cambodians and their struggles by visiting
the Angkor Wat or can definitely feel for the
early royalties of different Korean dynasties by
watching Korean dramas. Art is what allows for
these possibilities
Let's Wrap It
Up

Art has remained relevant in our daily lives because

most of it has played some form of function for man.
Since the dawn of the civilization, art has been at the
forefront of giving color to man's existence.
Let's Wrap It
Up
An art's function is personal if it depends on
the artist herself or sometimes still, the
audience of the art. There is a social function
in art if and when it has a particular social
function, when it addresses a collective need
of a group of people.
Let's Wrap It
Up
Physical function, finally, has something to do with direct,
tangible uses of art. Not all products of art have function.
This should not disqualify them as art though. As
mentioned and elucidated by some of the most important
thinkers in history, art may serve either as imitation,
representation, a disinterested judgment, or simply a
communication of emotion.