During the Paleolithic, humans painted on cave walls but also played music. Instruments used to send sound signals have been found, such as whistling reindeer phalanxes (the oldest known dates to 100 000 BC) but also flutes and musical bows depicted on the walls of the Trois-Frères cave in southern France. Art is thus a primary need for human beings.

One may lean upon Hegel to understand this universal need of art: The general need of art doesn’t depend on anything else than on the fact that Man is a thinking being and endowed with a conscience. “The artwork is a mean by which Man exteriorizes who he is.”. In Hegel’s opinion, art is an absolute necessity for Man, “which follows from Man’s rational character, source and reason of art, as of any action and knowledge.” Through art, Man tries to find who he is, and tends to find himself.

In a world which tells us to not endure life, yearning for more authenticity, it appears paradoxical to not philosophize and to not ask oneself the fundamental question of who we are. However it is what many do by considering art as useless or just as a simple entertainment or even as an ordinary representation of beauty. The artist is before everything a thinker who interrogates himself on Man and it’s milieu. Isn’t it fundamental and much more important than to amass millions?

Related posts:

1. The art of piano playing
2. Le gibet (Gaspard de la nuit – Ravel)
3. Listen, there is nothing to see!