What are the 7 Fine Arts? A summary of its characteristics

Beauty can be expressed in many ways, as many as there are people in this world. And it is that what for one is beautiful for another person can be something really inharmonious.

Whatever is understood as something worthy of admiration, the truth is that the fine arts have become the source of creation of many visions about the world.

But... What are the fine arts? What characterizes them? These questions have been asked over the years and have marked the evolution of what has been understood as something truly artistic. Let's delve into what fine arts are and see which ones are viewed as such today.

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What are the fine arts?

They are known as fine arts to the, currently, 7 forms of artistic realization or representation of what is considered beautiful or artistic. They are considered as pure forms of art, and use different techniques, materials and procedures.

The fine arts are not only different from each other, but also contemplate each of them different visions of what beauty is, with different trends depending on the country and the moment historical.

The artistic gifts of humanity have made it possible to elaborate durable elements that have transcended the passage of time. time, allowing to understand the culture of yesteryear and what vision various ethnic groups had on the world in which they lived. The fine arts have been considered those artistic products that occupied a central place in what was understood by high culture. Since the idea of ​​fine arts was generated, 6 have been those that have been included in this classification: painting, music, sculpture, architecture, literature and dance. Later, in the 20th century, cinematography was added.

The debate over whether these are really all the fine arts out there or whether to include others, such as theater or photography, is still active. Furthermore, it is worth noting the fact that the classification has always started from what was understood as high culture in the West, regardless of the vision in other regions of the world where ethnic differences with respect to Europe are very remarkable.

Concept history

Since ancient times, classical civilizations such as Greece and Rome studied artistic representation, the philosopher Aristotle being notable. The Greeks considered the artistic in two opposable categories: the higher arts and the minor arts.

The higher arts were considered the most powerful and transcendental, and those that impressed the senses considered the highest: sight and hearing fell into this category. On the other hand, the minor ones were simpler and more vulgar, and were enjoyed through the less transcendental senses according to the Greek vision, which were touch, smell and taste. Within this category would enter, to give a few examples, perfumery and gastronomy.

Starting from the Greek vision, several centuries later, during the 18th century, the Frenchman Charles Batteux (1713-1780) tried to classify the fine arts, publishing in 1746 his work Les Beaux-Arts reduits à un même principe ("The fine arts reduced to the same principle"). Here he tried to group the artistic practices that were valued at the time, taking into account what was understood by beauty, good taste or style. Within this first classification, six were considered as fine arts: dance, sculpture, painting, poetry, music and eloquence.

Given the mentality of the time, in this first classification of what the fine arts were, arts such as oratory or declamation were included, but later they were left aside.

What are the fine arts?

Here you will find a summary about what the fine arts are, with their properties as forms of artistic expression.

1. Architecture

Architecture is a beautiful art in which ingenuity and aesthetic delicacy are used to create buildings that are harmonious with the rest of nearby buildings, in addition to being striking over time. This art is possibly one of the most functional, since not only well-constructed buildings are a delight to the eye, but they are also places where you can inhabit.

The pantheon in Rome, the pyramids in Egypt, Stonehenge in the United Kingdom, the Himeji castle in Japan or the Sagrada Familia in Barcelona are some examples of works of international architecture.

2. Dance

Dance is the art where it is about communicating beauty through body expression, performing rhythmic movements, although these movements do not necessarily have to be accompanied by music.

Some of the most notable dance works have been those of Domenico da Piacenza, Marius Petipa, Agrippina Vagánova or Hanya Holm.

3. Literature

Literature is the art that uses the word to create. This art allows to convey emotions, experiences and opinions in the most precise way, since it uses its own language to communicate.

However, within it you can make use of metaphors and other literary devices that do not necessarily communicate literally what they really want to say. In fact, within literature are poetry and theater.

The Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri, Macbeth by William Shakespeare, Life is a Dream by Calderón de la Barca or the The well-known Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes are, to name a few, great works of literature universal.

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4. Painting

The painting transmits beauty through the use of visual techniques, either on a canvas or anywhere else you can paint.

Since time immemorial, the human being has expressed his reality using pigments and making drawings with them, trying to convey a message that would last for centuries.

It combines pictorial elements of all kinds, such as geometric shapes, perspective, colors, textures, trying or not to present them in a harmonious way or being groundbreaking, and thus transmit a message of abruptness and desire to go against the current.

Some of the best known paintings are The Scream by Edvard Munch, Guernica by Picasso, The Girl with a Pearl Earring by Johannes Vermeer, the prehistoric paintings of Atapuerca and what is probably the most famous painting, the Mona Lisa by Leonardo da Vinci.

5. Sculpture

With the sculpture shapes are created in three-dimensional space. The techniques for this can be varied, such as making reliefs, modeling, carving or sculpting, using various materials such as clay, stone or bronze.

The Discóbolo de Mirón de Eleuteras, the moai of the Easter Islands, the Christ the Redeemer in the city of Rio de Janeiro or the Pieta by Michelangelo are some examples of famous sculptures.

6. Music

Music is a sound art, governed by principles such as melody, rhythm and harmony. Sounds made by various instruments can be used, be they string, wind or percussion, in addition to adding the human voice to the artistic ensemble.

The word "music" comes from the Greeks, since they considered that this art was the product of the muses, who embellished the world with their musical abilities.

From the melodies sung with zither by the Greeks, through the Cantigas de Santa Maria by King Alfonso X, the works of Mozart, Vivaldi and Beethoven or Britney Spears songs are just a tiny portion of all the musical works that humanity has created since it has been living this planet.

7. Movie theater

The cinematography it has been called habitually "the seventh art", because it has been the last fine art to be admitted. within the official classification.

Actually, this art combines characteristics of the other six, since it combines elements of literature, such as the script, the soundtrack comes from the field of music and the images can be understood as a product of the arts pictorial.

Cinema can be understood as a way of transforming theater into something crystallized, something that is perpetually recorded on videotape.

The first films were filmed at the end of the 19th century by the Lumière brothers, and since then this art has not stopped offering artistic works.

Charles Chaplin, Alfred Hitchcock, Stanley Kubrick, Quentin Tarantino or Pedro Almodóvar are just a few examples of great film directors.

Characteristics of the fine arts

As we have seen, the fine arts that are contemplated are architecture, dance, literature, painting, sculpture, music and cinema, although this classification is under debate due to the emergence of new artistic techniques such as photography or the convenience of starting from complex arts and making their subcategories.

Whatever fine arts may be included or excluded from the official classification in the future, the truth is that all of them have the following characteristics.

1. They aspire to communicate the beautiful

Whatever the art itself and how you do it, your goal is to transmit a beautiful experience, enjoy the harmonious and that it goes beyond the purely earthly.

2. Universality

The works of art are intended to transmit their message to the whole of humanity, trying to break down the barriers of religious, ethnic or sexual differences.

3. Durability

The purpose for which a work of art has been made is that lasts in time, to be enjoyed by several generations and people of different times.

Are there only 7 fine arts?

Classification of the fine arts has not been static since the concept was formulated. That is why there have been those who have considered it appropriate to include other arts, talking about up to an eighth and ninth art.

Of special importance has been the theme of the theater, since many are those who consider that it should be an art separate from literature, having the same opinion regarding poetry.

Within the pictorial arts, which so far are only sculpture and painting, the creation of other independent categories has been considered. To give a few examples, photography, mosaics, printing, calligraphy, ceramics or conceptual art.

Bibliographic references:

• Batteux, C. (1746). Les Beaux Arts reduced to a prince's name. Imprimerie de CH. J. B. Delspine, ed. France.
• Ballard, A. (1898). Arrows; or, Teaching a fine art.. ACE. Barnes & Company, New York. USA
• Torrey, J. (1874). A theory of fine art. Scribner, Armstrong, and Co. New York, USA.