Defining Art

The first time I saw a photo of Michaelangelo Buonarroti’s statue the Pietà I didn’t think of it consciously, but my brain was saying, “Now this is art!” That was over a decade ago, and I still have much the same reaction when I see that Renaissance sculpture. The work depicts the dead body of Christ, languid in the arms of his mother Mary. The subject matter alone is likely to evoke emotion in many, while I find myself astonished at the technical achievement. It is plain to see in the highly detailed marble figures, with their perfect anatomy and expressive character, that Michaelangelo was a true master, an artist beyond question.

On May 21, 1972, a mentally unstable geologist named Laszlo Toth entered the Chapel of Santa Petronilla and with his trade’s hammer began hitting the statue Pietà while shouting, “I am Jesus Christ!” And like that, a work of art that had meant so much to so many for nearly half a millennia was severely damaged. It has since seen a major restoration and now resides in St. Peter’s Basilica, encased in bullet-proof glass.

The destruction of this statue seems utterly pointless and very regrettable to me. But should I assume that this is the only valid perspective? What makes the Pietà move me and so many others and what makes it art? Is it art to you? Is it possible that the geologist is an artist and his vandalism of the statue with a hammer his masterpiece?

I do not suspect that many would find much sympathy with the last idea, but could any of those naysayers posit a truly sound reason as to why a statue is art while a statue’s destruction is definitely not? Art has always meant a lot of different things depending on the time, place, and individual. There certainly are some mediums whi...

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...in groups or perform it in rituals, and so it is social, or it can express profound loneliness and melancholy or conversely the strength of self-reliance, and it is traditionally the work of one man, and so it is also solitary in nature. Most any form can be used to express the whole spectrum of human experience and feeling, and so our creations are nearly as dynamic as we are as people. Art in the end, like religion, is an earnest attempt for humans to extend the individual persona and the experiences had in life beyond the limitations of a physical world that is indifferent to our existence and into the infinite.

What is art to me? I choose not to answer that question directly, but I will say that the kind of art that has seemed to have the greatest ability to move me, and at times to truly disarm me, is that which questions, not what is art, but what is life?