Art and Phenomenology

Phenomenology is no doubt one of the leading strands of thought in contemporary thinking. As such, it enjoys a substantial explanatory power, and all the more so when it comes to art. At first, key concepts of phenomenology will be introduced, such as Being, Excess, Constitution, and Reduction. Then the discussion will introduce key aesthetic notions that are the mainstay of the phenomenological discussion of art, such as the Open, Concealment/Un-concealment, Earth/World, and Object/Framework. The pivotal question to be addressed is whether art should be considered a mere representation of the world or a true manifestation of it. In that context, we will explore how art is thought of from a phenomenological perspective through a discussion of artworks from the classical era, such as the statue of Apollo and the Greek temple, as well as artworks from the modern era, such as those of Monet, Van-Gough, Cezanne, Picasso,  Miro, Rothko, and Duchamp.