What is art This question has confused great thinkers for centuries. In fact, there is disagreement about exactly what art is. Most of us would agree that Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa is art, but what about a video game? One dictionary states that art is making objects? images or music, etc. that are beautiful or that express certain feelings. This, however, could be regarded as too general a definition（定义）.
Art is usually divided into two areas: fineart,such as painting, music and sculpture（雕塑）and applied art（实用美术）, such as fashion design, furniture making and gardening. According to Aristotle, fee art is something which has a conceptual function（概念功能）. He noted that artists produced objects, drama and music which showed their emotions and ideas? rather than just trying to offer a true image of nature. Andy Warhol, the American artist famous for his Pop Art in the 1960s, once said, "An artist produces things that people don't need to have." This is the biggest difference between fine and applied art. Applied art requires an object to be functional as well as beautiful.
In the twentieth century, however, artists began to challenge the accepted idea of art. The French artist Marcel Duchamp changed peopled understanding of what sculpture was by mounting a bicycle wheel upside down on a stool in 1913 and calling it art. In 2002, Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama created an art work that required the public's involvement. In this work, visitors were asked to cover a white room that had white furniture and objects in it, with many colorful sticker dots （圆形贴纸）.He once said? "Everything an artist produces is art".
Today, we can see examples of art all around us which are not expensive, Many towns and cities have public art which can be enjoyed by all. Some museums, like the National Art Museum of China in Beijing, have no entrance fee. Others are free for children and students. Street art is also popular m different neighborhoods around the world.
Art can make our ordinary, everyday lives a little more special. This idea may not work for all art, but perhaps we can agree that it is a goal towards which all artists should work.
