Summary: Lectures on Aesthetics (page 3)

Now, how can we define a work of art?

A work of art is a product of human activity, created for human beings (more precisely, for our faculty of sensation), and has an end in itself—it is not a means to something else.

Hegel examines each of these three aspects in turn.

1. Art as the product of human activity

A work of art is produced by human beings—but in what way? Does the creator follow universal rules, such that merely applying them mechanically would be sufficient to create a work of art? If this were the case, it would depend solely on the will of each individual to replicate the same process and produce works of art¹.

Hegel rejects this notion for two reasons:

Such rules are always too abstract and therefore indeterminate. For example, "the subject must be interesting"—but how can we determine what is interesting?

This mechanical quality is reflected in the resulting work: By following such instructions, one can produce only something formally regular and mechanical².

Conversely, can it be argued that the creation of a work of art follows no rules at all, but is instead the unconscious and uncontrolled result of the creator's genius and talent, expressed in a burst of enthusiasm?

This view gained prominence during what has been called the Genius period, with Goethe and Schiller. Indeed, these poets started from scratch, disregarding all established rules³—or even deliberately defying them.

Hegel cannot accept this view either.

In reality, the artist must at the very least acquire the technical skills required to create a work of art. A pianist, for instance, must practise scales; a painter must master the technique of watercolours, and so on. Yet proficiency in these areas cannot be attained through enthusiasm alone, but only through reflection, discipline, and practice⁴.

Moreover, a work of art is distinguished by the depth of the content it reveals to the viewer, and such content cannot be grasped immediately by the artist but only through effort and study.

For Hegel, true masterpieces can only be created after a certain age—though this varies across the arts. Poetry, more than music, demands thought, and Hegel observes that Goethe wrote his best poetry in old age.

The beauty of a work of art is therefore conferred by the spirit within it.

This is why artistic beauty is superior to natural beauty: a work of art captures and expresses the spiritual value of an event in a more vivid and tangible way than can be encountered in the real, non-artistic realm of life⁵.

If natural beauty is fleeting, the spirit endows works of art with permanence.

However, is natural beauty not superior to artistic beauty, since it is the work of God, whereas a work of art is merely a human creation? For Hegel, the work of art is also a manifestation of the divine—one that occurs through the mediation of the human creator.

It is even a privileged form of divine manifestation: God appears more fully in the beauty of works of art than in the beauty of nature.

Indeed, mere existence within the unconscious sensibility of nature is not an adequate mode of appearance for the divine⁶.

Art is not only a privileged mode of manifestation of the divine Spirit; it is also the means by which the human spirit becomes conscious of itself.

Through consciousness, man, as spirit, redoubles himself⁷. He acquires this self-consciousness theoretically (by reflecting on himself) but also practically, through his activity—more specifically, by transforming external objects. In doing so, he sees his imprint upon them, a mark that represents a part of himself. This is a crucial step in his gradual self-awareness.

¹ p.79
² ibid.
³ p.80
⁴ p.81
⁵ p.83
⁶ p.84
⁷ p.85