Why is Art Universal?

Art has been a part and parcel of human culture since time immemorial. From the Tadrart Acacus prehistoric cave paintings to AI-powered NFTs owned by YouTubers like MrBeast, art has always been an effective vessel for human expression. It helps us convey experiences, emotions, and thoughts in a wholesome way that words cannot.

What’s more, art mirrors our culture and society, serving as an unbiased window into our attitudes, beliefs, and values as a people. But that isn’t all. It also holds immense power to elicit emotions and strike connections amongst people from all walks of life. That’s the beauty of the universality of art – it cuts across many cultural and language barriers.

A painting like Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa (1503) can convey a message that resonates with people on an incredibly deep level, no matter their language or cultural differences. A good piece of art has the inherent potential to inspire, move, and bring people together in an awe-inspiring way. This is especially true in periods of political and social injustices, where art can play a social and activism role to the tee.

However you look at it, art has a profoundly universal appeal that pays homage to our commonality as humans. It links us to one another and to everything that surrounds us. This universal language attached to art makes it transcend geographic and cultural barriers. That’s why art has been a mainstay feature throughout human history.

Let’s take an unbiased stock of art’s universality.

First up – What is Art?

Art is a vessel for expressing – be it our thoughts, experiences, feelings, or anything in between. The umbrella term encompasses a huge range of media. Talk about installations, photography, art deco, drawings, printmaking, sculpture, painting, you name it!

Historical Perspective on Art

Art may seem universal, but it has evolved over time to become what it is today. That’s why it is crucial to look back in order to understand the origin and essence of art’s universality. After all, art – in its myriad forms – has colored human civilization since time immemorial. From the prehistoric cave paintings of Tadrart Acacus to Mike Beeple’s AI-backed NFT, The First 5000 Days, art has given us a superb tool to record history, tell stories, and express our culture.

Once humanity graduated from prehistoric rock carvings, they ushered in ancient art. Talk about the art of ancient Egypt, Greece, Rome, and the Inca. At their core, ancient artworks paid homage to deities of the time. For example, in Ancient Greece, art served as a sacred way to cherish the goddesses, gods, and rules, with ornate reliefs and sculptures portraying mythological scenes.

Right after ancient art, medieval art emerged during the Middle Ages (aka Dark Ages). The period started in 500 AD, right after the dramatic fall of the Roman Empire in 476 AD. Not surprisingly, most medieval artworks depict the gloomy experiences of the period. They feature brutal scenery and grotesque imagery, with the church and religion taking center stage.

Gothic architecture and decorated manuscripts also emerged during this period.

The medieval art movement saw the spring of well-known artworks such as Notre Dame (Paris), Hagia Sophia (Istanbul), catacombs (Rome), and Lindisfarne Gospels.

The Renaissance is a period when art truly came into its own in Europe. The art movement focused mainly on the concepts of individualism, realism, and nature. The style of decorative art, sculpture, and painting tried to speak to the thought of humans as self-reliant and independent. The likes of Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, and Raphael also paid homage to secularization (moving away from the church), which was evident during the 15th and 16th centuries.

Mannerist art borrowed a big leaf from the ideals of Italian artists of the Renaissance era. In particular, Raphael and Michelangelo had an immense influence on Mannerist artists. They heavily focused on technique and style instead of the concept. Mannerist artworks sported stylized features, small heads, and elongated hands with exaggerated details. Well-known mannerist artists include Bronzino, Domenico Beccafumi, Francesco Salviati, and Giorgio Vasari.

Following the footsteps of their immediate Mannerist counterparts, Baroque artists used over-the-top features and elaborate architecture. Their artworks were marked by indicators of wealth and grander. Most paintings were dramatic and made evident their increasing intellect. Baroque art was borderline snobbish and made use of intense color contrasts. Well-known baroque artists include Rembrandt (Dutch) and Caravaggio (Italian).

You probably don’t know much about Rococo art. It emerged from Paris at the turn of the 18th century. The Rococo period mostly features decorative sculptures, architecture, and paintings. They’re characterized by elegance and lightness with subtle colors, an asymmetrical design, and natural forms. Well-known Rococo artists include Francois Boucher and Antoine Watteau.

The Neoclassical period is when art really came into its own. That’s when people started yearning for bygone eras. Coincidentally, this period emerged just when archaeologists began to discover artifacts and goodies of the ancient civilizations in Naples and Athens. It’s no wonder neoclassical art pays homage to classical ideals of proportion, simplicity, and harmony. Best-known neoclassical artists include Antonio Canova, Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres, and Kauffman.

Romantic artists focused on rejecting everything that their neoclassical counterparts idealized – rationality, simplicity, harmony, and order. Their literature, music, and paintings emphasized creativity and individualism, often appreciating nature. During Romanticism, artists used their art to speak to concepts of sensation, emotion, and passion over reason and intellect. Well-known artists of the era include the one and only William Blake and Henry Fuseli.

Realism marked the first milestone of modern art history. It emerged in the 1840s in France, combining multiple inspirations – the invention of photography, the rise of journalism, and the anti-Romantic vibe in Germany. Realistic art, just as the name confirms, uses life-like details and attention to accuracy to accurately depict everyday life. You probably recognize the big names of the Realism era, such as Gustave Courbet, Honoré-Victorin Daumier, and Edward Hopper.

The era of new art ushered in an entirely authentic art movement. Artists of this period tried hard to move away from the styles of previous movements. That’s why Art Nouveau artists influenced everything from illustration and graphics to applied arts. Well-known Nouveau artists are some of the biggest names in art history – talk about Antoni Gaudi, Alphonse Mucha, and Sarah Bernhardt.

Impressionism welcomed the period of capturing the moment. Impressionist artists used sketches and quick brushstrokes to impress the subject matter. Artist examples – Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Edgar Degas, Claude Monet, and Édouard Manet. Masterpieces from the period include The Water Lily Pond (1899), Woman with a Parasol (1875), and Impression, Sunrise (1872).

Post-Impressionism ushered in the era of solo artists. They focused on personal meanings and subjective visions instead of observing nature. That’s partly thanks to their extensive use of abstract forms. Vincent van Gogh and Georges Seurat are the two most notable post-impressionist artists whose works still reverberate to date.

Fauvism was built upon the styles and ideals of Post-Impressionist artists (read: George Seurat and Vincent van Gogh). Fauvist artists made heavy employed intense brushwork, lines, and color. Their works featured an imaginative sense of flat composition and surface design. Well-known Fauvist artists – André Derain and Henri Matisse – inspired Expressionism and Cubism.

The expressionism art movement really did a number on the world, largely inspired by Fauvist artists like Henri Matisse. It emerged to mirror the world in which the role of spirituality was waning. The artworks of the era looked to draw from within the artist to showcase raw emotions and anxieties. Expressionist artists – most notably Der Blaue Reiter and Die Brücke – used intense colors and distorted forms, the majority of which were inspired by tribal art and folk tales.

Dada art gave birth to the era of Surrealism. The artists of the period sought to defy reason and the laws of physics. They were heavily inspired by Sigmund Freud and Karl Marx. Well-known Surrealist artists, most notably Salvador Dalí, Pablo Picasso, and Joan Miró combined bizarre and vivid imaginations with historical relevance.

The period after Surrealism welcomed major modern art movements. We’re talking about Abstract Expressionism (1940s–1950s), Op Art (1950s–1960s), Pop Art (1950s–1960s), Arte Povera (1960s), Minimalism (1960s–1970s), and Conceptual Art (1960s–1970s).

As you can see, artists have always fallen back on their works for refuge and consolation throughout history. They speak to the universality of art as both a form of self-expression and a tool for change. They borrow a leaf from their surroundings to craft art that expresses their vision and opinions. More crucially, artists have used art in pretty much the same way, especially when doing political activism and providing social commentary.

Art universality & the evolution of the human brain

The evolution of our brains has been intertwined with art. As the human brain has become sophisticated and complex, it has shifted the way we imagine, appreciate, and create art. In a lot of cases, it has also impacted heavily how we understand and perceive. Yet, art still has a universal appeal.

The molding of our prefrontal cortex (a tiny gem in our brain that helps us make decisions and think critically) has truly shaped our connection with art. As it became complex, the small beauty has allowed us to use art to express our emotions, thoughts, and experiences in a wordless way.

Another important factor is the evolution of language, which has enabled us to communicate complex ideas and emotions with one another. This ability to communicate has allowed us to share our experiences and perspectives through art and has helped to make art an integral part of human culture and society.

What’s more, it appears that all humans have the ability to appreciate aesthetic qualities in things, actions, and sounds. The ability to create beautiful things also has a universal appeal. However, appreciating desirable attributes of expressive media like art goes beyond creating them. Only a small portion of human groups are “artists,” whereas “spectators” are numerous. Additionally, one can find aesthetic qualities in uncreated natural objects and events.

Both fossil and archaeological records lack sufficient evidence to establish the appearance of ability to appreciate beauty. Producing beauty, however, appears less elusive, though it is also challenging to pinpoint its origin. Early examples of ornamental, artistic, or symbolic objects have been investigated in previous work. This chapter shifts the focus to look for evidence of mental correlates that might support the existence of a capacity for appreciating beauty because it is interested in the relationship between the evolution of art and the brain.

The role of art in society

From its prehistoric rock art of Tadrart Acacus to AI-powered non-fungible token popularized by TikTok celebs like MrBeast, art has played an incredible role in how our society is shaped. It has played a huge role in defining and mirroring our political, social, and cultural values over time. That speaks volumes of art’s universality – its appeal that knows no cultural and language boundaries.

Let’s take a closer look at some of these roles of art that has allowed it to mold societies throughout the world.

Art elicits healthy & good-for-society debates

No society has flourished without thought leaders and thinkers. Think of policy-makers and legislators of today. They help craft laws and policies that define and guide everything in our society. Whether good or bad, their decisions can lead to insurmountable changes in our communities from the ground to the top of society’s hierarchy.

Thankfully, art has that groundbreaking or controversial appeal that elicits discussions – be they around social or political happenings. That has enabled artists to provide social commentary and spark political activism. That way, they help stir stakeholders like church leaders, community spokespeople, and politicians to act in the best interest of our society.

More than anything, art pushes us to respond to social change. Not just that –it can also trigger passionate debate around any social injustice. This way, we can discuss and analyze any opportunities that could benefit the community or humanity at large. It’s this raw power of art that makes it universal in pushing for social agenda throughout the world.