I think about that a lot. What is art? When you witness art it moves you. Whether it is a feeling you can't describe or an emotion such as anger, it takes you somewhere you would not have visited without witnessing the art itself. It is a porthole into another world. Sometimes, that world is so unrecognizable and abnormal that we assume it is not art at all. It is sad when that happens... when one doesn't get it. When art doesn't move you, is it still art?
Art history is an interesting thing. I took an art history class once. Apparently, art can help people see injustices that are going unnoticed by many. When you see art in a history book, many pieces of art change the way people think about a particular subject. Picasso is one I can remember. Let's Google his art.
Guernica 1937
"Compelled to strengthen the emotional impact of his work with depictions of agony and destruction, Pablo Picasso (1881 – 1973) painted the highly evocative work “Guernica” which he refused to allow for exhibit in Spain until the overthrow of Franco’s totalitarian regime. Painted in 1937, Guernica was an impassioned protest against the bombing of the little town of Guernica during the Spanish Civil War, and contains allegorical symbols of the rage and despair felt during the crisis." -from art.com
http://www.art.com/products/p10063623-sb-i668993/pablo-picasso-guernica-c1937.htm
It is interesting that Picasso refused to allow the exhibition of "Guernica". Art is often destroyed when a country is being overthrown to destroy a cultures identity and to keep messages of protest from being heard. I'm sure that Franco would have destroyed this classic example of art at its best. America is a country that protects the voice of the people in it with the First Amendment.
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