What Are The 7 Fine Arts? A Summary Of Its Features
Beauty can be expressed in many ways, as many as there are people in this world. And what is beautiful for one person can be something really inharmonious for another person.
Whatever is understood as something worthy of admiration, the truth is that Fine arts have become the source of creation of many visions of the world
But… what are the fine arts? What characterizes them? These questions have been asked over the years and have marked the evolution of what has been understood as something truly artistic. Let’s delve deeper into what fine arts are and see which ones are considered as such today.
Currently, fine arts are known as 7 forms of artistic realization or representation of what is considered beautiful or artistic They are considered pure forms of art, and use different techniques, materials and procedures.
The fine arts are not only different from each other, but they also each contemplate different visions of what beauty is, with different trends depending on the country and the historical moment.
The artistic gifts of humanity have allowed us to create lasting elements that have transcended the passage of time, allowing us to understand the culture of yesteryear and what vision various ethnic groups had about the world in which they lived. Fine arts have been considered those artistic products that occupied a central place in what was understood as high culture. Since the idea of fine arts was generated, 6 have been included in this classification: painting, music, sculpture, architecture, literature and dance. Later, in the 20th century, cinematography was added.
The debate over whether these are really all the fine arts that exist or whether others, such as theater or photography, should be included, remains active. Furthermore, it is worth highlighting the fact that The classification has always been based on what was understood as high culture in the West without taking into account what the vision was in other regions of the world where the ethnic differences with respect to Europe are very notable.
History of the concept
Since ancient times, classical civilizations such as Greece and Rome studied artistic representation, the philosopher Aristotle being notable. The Greeks contemplated the artistic in two opposable categories: the higher arts and the lesser arts
The higher arts were those considered most powerful and transcendental, and those that impressed the senses considered the highest: sight and hearing fell into this category. On the other hand, the minor ones were simpler and more vulgar, and were enjoyed through the less transcendental senses according to the Greek vision, which were touch, smell and taste. Within this category would fall, to give some examples, perfumery and gastronomy.
Starting from the Greek vision, several centuries later, during the 18th century, The Frenchman Charles Batteux (1713-1780) tried to classify the fine arts publishing his work in 1746 Les Beaux-Arts reduits à un même principe (“The fine arts reduced to the same principle”). Here he tried to group together the artistic practices that were valued at the time, taking into account what was meant by beauty, good taste or style. Within this first classification, six were considered fine arts: dance, sculpture, painting, poetry, music and eloquence.
Given the mentality of the time, in this first classification of what the fine arts were, arts such as oratory or declamation were included, but they were later left aside.
What are the fine arts?
Here you will find a summary of what fine arts are, with their properties as forms of artistic expression.
1. Architecture
Architecture is a fine art in which ingenuity and aesthetic delicacy are used to create buildings that are harmonious with the rest of the nearby buildings, in addition to becoming striking over time. This art is, possibly, one of the most functional, since not only are well-constructed buildings a delight to the eye, but they are also places that can be lived in.
The pantheon in Rome, the pyramids in Egypt, Stonehenge in the United Kingdom, Himeji Castle in Japan or the Sagrada Familia in Barcelona are some examples of works of international architecture.
2. Dance
Dance is the art where It is about communicating beauty through body expression, performing rhythmic movements although these movements do not necessarily have to be accompanied by music.
Some of the most notable dance works have been those of Domenico da Piacenza, Marius Petipa, Agrippina Vagánova or Hanya Holm.
3. Literature
Literature is the art that uses words to create. this art allows you to transmit emotions, experiences and opinions in the most precise way since it uses its own language to communicate.
However, within it they can use metaphors and other literary resources that do not necessarily literally communicate what they really want to say. In fact, within literature there are poetry and theater.
The Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri, Macbeth by William Shakespeare, Life is a Dream by Calderón de la Barca or the well-known Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes are, to name a few, great works of universal literature.
4. Painting
The painting transmits the beautiful through the use of visual techniques whether on a canvas or any other place where you can paint.
Since time immemorial, human beings have expressed their reality using pigments and making drawings with them, trying to transmit a message that would last for centuries.
It combines pictorial elements of all kinds, such as geometric shapes, perspective, colors, textures trying or not to present them in a harmonious way or being groundbreaking, and thus transmit a message of abruptness and desire to go against the current.
Some of the best-known paintings are The Scream by Edvard Munch, Guernica by Picasso, Girl with a Pearl Earring by Johannes Vermeer, the prehistoric paintings of Atapuerca and what is probably the most famous painting, the Mona Lisa by Leonardo da Vinci.
5. Sculpture
with the sculpture shapes are created in three-dimensional space The techniques for this can be varied, such as making reliefs, modeling, carving or sculpting, using various materials such as clay, stone or bronze.
The Discobolus of Myron of Eleuteras, the moai of the Easter Islands, Christ the Redeemer in the city of Rio de Janeiro or the Pietà of Michelangelo are some examples of famous sculptures.
6. Music
Music is a sound art, which is governed by principles such as melody, rhythm and harmony. Sounds emitted with various instruments can be used, whether string, wind or percussion in addition to adding the human voice to the artistic ensemble.
The word “music” comes from the Greeks, since they considered this art to be the product of the muses, who beautified the world with their musical skills.
From the melodies sung with zithers by the Greeks, through the Cantigas de Santa Maria by King Alfonso created since this planet has been inhabiting.
7. Cinema
The cinematography has been usually called “the seventh art”, because it has been the last fine art to be admitted within the official classification.
Actually, this art combines characteristics of the other six, since it combines elements of literature, such as the script, the soundtrack comes from the field of music and the images can be understood as a product of the pictorial arts.
Cinema can be understood as a way of transforming theater into something crystallized, something that is perpetually recorded on videotape.
The first films were filmed at the end of the 19th century by the Lumière brothers and since then this art has not stopped offering artistic works.
Charles Chaplin, Alfred Hitchcock, Stanley Kubrick, Quentin Tarantino and Pedro Almodóvar are just a few examples of great film directors.
Characteristics of fine arts
As we have seen, the fine arts that are contemplated are architecture, dance, literature, painting, sculpture, music and cinema, although this classification is under debate due to the appearance of new artistic techniques such as photography. or the convenience of breaking down complex arts and making their subcategories independent.
Whatever fine arts may be included or excluded from the official classification in the future, the truth is that All of them have the following characteristics
1. They aspire to communicate the beautiful
Whatever the art itself and how it is done, its goal is to transmit a beautiful experience, enjoy the harmonious and that goes beyond the purely earthly.
2. Universality
Works of art aim to convey their message to the whole of humanity trying to break the barriers of religious, ethnic or sexual differences.
3. Durability
The purpose for which a work of art has been created is that lasts over time, to be enjoyed by several generations and people from different times.
There are only 7 fine arts?
The classification of fine arts has not been static since the concept was formulated. That is why there have been those who have considered it appropriate to include other arts, going so far as to speak of even an eighth and ninth art.
Of special importance has been the theme of theater since many are those who consider that it should be an art separate from literature, having the same opinion regarding poetry.
Within the pictorial arts, which until now are only sculpture and painting, The creation of other independent categories has been proposed To give some examples, photography, mosaics, printing, calligraphy, ceramics or conceptual art.
