I could tell you that art plays a large part in making our lives infinitely rich. Imagine, just for a minute, a world without art! Art stimulates different parts of our brains to make us laugh or incite us to riot, with a whole gamut of emotions in between. Art gives us a way to be creative and express ourselves. It is art. Your shoes are art. Your coffee cup is art. All functional design, well done, is art. So, you could say “Art is something that is both functional and (hopefully) aesthetically pleasing to our eyes.”

You might say “Art is in a constant state of change, so nobody can really pin down what it is.”

Alexander Nehamas’ main areas of research are ancient Greek philosophy, aesthetics and literary theory, and Nietzsche.  He is a professor in the departments of philosophy and comparative literature at Princeton University, where he also serves as the chair for the Program in Hellenic Studies.

What is art? Are there necessary and sufficient conditions for being art? Nehamas doubts that one can define art. Ken suggests that art is whatever is made in an artistic process and consumed as art. Nehamas points out that most pieces of art in museums were not intended to be art. Is there a legitimate difference between high art and low art? Historically, much art was made for popular entertainment.

What is the connection between beauty and art? Nehamas thinks that all art is beauty although it may not all be pretty. Much modern art is engaging although it isn’t pretty. What does art do for us?
Can just anything be art? Nehamas points out that it is hard to convince people that something is art. Nehamas thinks that it is difficult to appreciate any art, even great art.

Any brief definition of art would oversimplify the matter, but we can say that all the definitions offered over the centuries include some notion of human agency, whether through manual skills (as in the art of sailing or painting or photography), intellectual manipulation (as in the art of politics), or public or personal expression (as in the art of conversation). Ellen Dissanayake’s What is Art For?

• a self rewarding activity,
• a concern with change and variety,
• the aesthetic exploitation of familiarity vs. surprise,
• the aesthetic exploitation of tension vs. release,
• an indulgence in sensuousness,
• illustration,
• revelation,
• personal adornment or embellishment,
• therapy,

Introductory books and study guides on art history usually give a variation of the following as the basic functions of art:

• to redefine reality,
• and to redefine art.