Why Do We Create Art?

“Art is the most intense mode of individualism that the world has known.” - Oscar Wilde, Irish Poet

Painted into timelines and woven into history, we find glimpses of art intertwined with both humanity’s past and present. Edvard Munch’s inconspicuously tragic work, the markings that now lie faded in ancient caves, sculptures of people hoping to be remembered by the present, the portraits made by a restless college student—all are examples of art that has been made by humans for both themselves and others—but for what reason? It’s as though we have an innate quality that directs us towards leaving a piece of ourselves for the future in a form that can’t be confined to a simple definition. What drives us to pick up a pencil, to learn a dance, to create from almost nothing but inspiration?

A direct but vague answer would be self-expression. Vincent Van Gogh once said, “the emotions are sometimes so strong that I work without knowing it. The strokes come like speech.” In his impressionistic work, the paint, direction, and color create a dialect of their own. Through colours, form, movements, and marks, you could create a language that can only be spoken by observing. A simple shade of blue could paint out stories that hide in the back of your mind. Dating back to Ancient Egypt, colour psychology is not an entirely modern concept. Despite not aligning with contemporary beliefs on colour symbolism, the people of Ancient Egypt used their own pairings, such as silver and gold, to evoke meaning and representation to observers of their art. In fact, the word “Iwn” which means colour, also translates to “character” and “disposition”, supporting their discovery in the link between colour imagery and one’s persona. Subconsciously, we as humans associate colour with specific feelings and memories, thus using them to recreate fleeting moments or emotions and capture them into visual media for both ourselves and the perception of others. However, our comprehension of art made by others may be very different from its original intent due to our distinctive associations with different colors. It’s almost as though despite being the ultimate form of self-expression, the feelings put into art may only be as raw to the artist and more personal to the observer; I suppose that is the art of interpretation.

Another response could be just as simple as the first: we create art for personal enjoyment. Perhaps the reason lies within the serenity of painting or the fact that having a hobby eases the stress of everyday life. However, this is not always the case. What about the artists that are compelled to create art to unreachable standards, striving for perfection but never reaching it? Does it still count as personal enjoyment then? When creating feels like an obligation then why do we still do it? Perfectionism and art are subjects that have been highlighted constantly in books, therapy, and in personal practice for reasons individual to each artist. Maybe it’s the want for acceptance, the need for validation, or the desire to prove ourselves as artists. Ellen Winner, Ph.D. ’78, BI ’99, began her further education studying English, then chose to explore the Fine Arts, only to find herself drawn to psychology and earned her doctorate at Harvard University. Winner’s research focuses on cognition—the mental processes involved in gaining knowledge and comprehension—in the arts. In an interview with the Harvard Gazette, she said, “Art is just something we cannot help but do. While we may not need art to survive, our lives would be entirely different without it.”

A single sentence in a novel or a complete portrait could bring you to tears or could cause your heart to smile. Why do we create art? Another answer could be that we, as humans, love to express experiences that even we can’t relate to. In a world with harsh realities, we cherish every form of escapism we can find: fiction, fantasy, fables—in other words, we find refuge in art. We put ourselves in the shoes of a character and see through the eyes of someone entirely different. But what we don’t realize is that every work of fiction mirrors reality. It is almost as though we are drawn to record pieces of this life through our own lives, no matter how distant it may seem. Conversely, it could be the opposite; maybe we feel the need to manifest our ideal realities through art. As Oscar Wilde once said, “Life imitates art far more than art imitates life.”

Within each culture is a form of art that tells the story of a people. A form of art that makes a short-lived civilization live forever in both the future and the past. A song, a dance, a painting, a book; passed down through generations or that was lost but is now found with the purpose of storytelling. From the design of a mosque and the murals on the ceiling of the Palace of Versailles to the short story a school student writes, art plays a role in religion, in kingdoms, in education, and our own legacies. Storytelling is a prominent thread we can see stitched within the possible answers for our question. Stories exist beyond the pages of a novel. They have been recorded for longer than we can date back. There is no art that exists without a story and there is no story that is too insignificant to tell.

Art is a subject that cannot be defined by simple words. Instead, the only way to describe art is by using art itself. To answer the question, “Why do we create art?” is just as complex. A form of escapism? A type of self-expression? Regardless of the research, there is no determined forward answer. Whether it be an innate nature or subconscious compulsion that draws us to creating and making, I believe that we make art to leave a piece of our existence onto this world. We create art to tell a story that is written before we finally see it unravel. We create art because we are human—perhaps being human is a form of art at its best.

Dana Ahmed 11E