Summary: Lectures on Aesthetics (page 8)

In reality, the Absolute in itself—what it is, its content—takes shape gradually; it is not given from the outset but unfolds in its being through History, as explained in The Phenomenology of Spirit and the Introduction to the Philosophy of History.

This progression of content corresponds to an evolution in the forms through which it manifests itself, including the different types of art.

This is precisely what accounts for the progress of art—the fact that, throughout the ages, artistic forms have undergone significant transformation:

Before reaching the true concept of its absolute essence, Spirit must pass through a series of stages, each based on this very concept. And to this progression of content, which Spirit gives itself, corresponds an immediately perceptible progression in the forms of art, through which Spirit, as an artistic force, attains self-consciousness.¹

Thus, the function of art is to reveal a content: Spirit in the process of forming itself.

It is therefore mistaken to believe that a work of art can present just any content. One cannot simply say, It does not matter whether this idea is one or another, as long as the actual form, whatever it may be, precisely represents this particular idea². To think this way is to confuse exactitude with truth.

On the contrary, art is always constrained, in each epoch, by the stage of development that Spirit has reached. In the early periods of history, Spirit has not yet fully formed. As a result, primitive art remains shapeless, reflecting the indeterminacy of Spirit itself.

The imperfection of a work of art is never merely subjective; rather, the imperfection of form arises from the imperfection of content³.

Conversely, the greater the excellence of a work of art, the deeper the inner truth of its content and thought⁴.

We find here, then, a doctrine that grounds the objective beauty of a work of art in History.

The progress of art ultimately leads to a harmony between Idea (or Spirit, God, or the Absolute) and artistic form:

Only in the highest art do the Idea and its representation truly correspond to one another, or rather, the Idea expressed through form is itself the true.⁵

To summarise: The forms of art are nothing other than the different relationships between form and content—relationships that arise from the Idea itself⁶.

Three main types of art can be distinguished:

a/ Symbolic Art

In the beginning, the Idea, still undetermined, becomes the content of artistic forms.

However, its abstraction and one-sidedness leave the figure outwardly deficient and arbitrary⁷.

This first form of art represents not the possibility of true representation but a mere search for it.

In symbolic art, the Idea has not yet found its form within itself, which is why it aspires to it and struggles to attain it⁸. The Idea seeks itself in forms but does not find itself (because it remains undetermined). Restless, it elevates natural forms even to the indeterminate and the excessive; it staggers from one to another, it shudders and ferments within them, it does violence to them, distorts and exaggerates them to the point of deformation⁹.

This form of art, characteristic of the East (China, Egypt, etc.), produces works that are bizarre, grotesque, deformed, and disproportionate: It seeks to elevate the phenomenon to the Idea through dispersion, excess, and an overabundance of images¹⁰. The pyramids are a case in point.

What defines symbolic art? Mystery and sublimity¹¹.

b/ Classical Art

This form of art emerges when the Idea is adequately embodied in a fitting form.

However, it is neither just any content nor just any form that achieves this embodiment.

The content is Spirit, and the form is the human figure, since the Idea is spirituality—not abstract but determined: Since it is the task of art to bring the spiritual to intuition in a sensuous way, it must proceed to this humanisation, as the spiritual appears sensuously in a fully realised manner only in its own body¹².

Classical art finds its highest expression in ancient Greece. Greek statues—Discoboli, athletes, and other idealised human forms—perfectly illustrate this.

However, this perfect matching of form and content is, paradoxically, a limitation of this type of art. It must be shown, on the contrary, that content (Spirit) surpasses and transcends form (matter, the body). This necessity gives rise to the third form of art: Romantic Art.

¹ p.132
² p.134
³ p.134
⁴ p.135
⁵ p.135
⁶ p.136
⁷ p.136
⁸ ibid.
⁹ p.137
¹⁰ ibid.
¹¹ p.138
¹² p.139