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the_impression_of_art.html

I don't think I need to justify the claim that beauty is subjective. Beyond the influence of society and culture, two individuals could look at the same thing, and one might think it's beautiful while the other might think it's not.

Despite this subjective nature, or perhaps because of it, it may not be easy for a person to describe a set of traits that all things which they find beautiful share. Sure, they may list some, but this certainly wouldn't be an exhaustive list. But still, one knows that something is beautiful when they see it – this is what I would like to call the Impression of beauty.

An Impression, here, is something akin to a feeling. It is explicitly based on something that a person observes, here perhaps a person or a piece of art or a natural landscape or whatever else they find beautiful. Many things will form this same Impression of beauty, and it will definitely have an amount of overlap with other people. This then creates the concept of “beauty” as something which forms the Impression of beauty in a person.

I don't think an Impression is exactly the same thing as a feeling however. For example even though fear can be a response to something a person observes, I wouldn't call it an Impression. It is hard for me to substantiate this distinction in any way other than to say that the experience of seeing something beautiful and of feeling fear, or anger, or sadness, feels fundamentally different. To maybe give an example in practice, I think that it's worth noting that while something may be “scary”, meaning it makes you feel “scared”, we wouldn't say that something “beautiful” makes you feel… “beautied”, or anything like that. It is also different from something like the idea of a chair. When a person looks at something, they may think of it as a chair, but I think this is more conceptual, an association with a more strict idea, than it is a semi-emotional reaction.

The Impression of beauty is not the only Impression that I think exists. As suggested by the title, I think that Art is an Impression.

I believe that looking at an art piece forms in a person the Impression of Art. This then allows for the creation of the concept of “art” as anything that causes this Impression. There is, again, overlap in what forms this Impression in people, but it is also not a full overlap.

This, I think, would explain for example why people often fight over the definition of “art”. It is something that ultimately describes a subjective experience – what may cause the Impression of Art in one person will not necessarily cause it in another. And similarly to beauty, I think many will struggle to form a definition that will fully encompass what they think of as Art (I know that I can't do that). You notice this with AI art sometimes too, I think. I found some people expressing that AI art just doesn't feel like art to them. I think this is ultimately valid, as I think this simply describes a subjective Impression.

With this in mind, however, I think it is important not to try to formulate an “objective” definition of art, or force one's definition upon others. It seems to me comparable to trying to tell someone that what they view as beautiful actually isn't such.

Then again, this whole idea may be complete nonsense.