Can art be defined, and how?

Question

I know of a few prominent definitions:

*It "makes special" (Ellen Dissanayake).

*It is characterised by "family resemblences" (works of art have things in common with other works, but no work of art has every one of the things).

*It is what the art world says is art.

Any others?

Answer 1

Art it where creativity and imagination comes to life.

Answer 2

anything that has had a vision

Answer 3

it is a "skill acquired by experience, study, or observation"

"decorative or illustrative elements in printed matter"

Answer 4

I think it's defined by its purpose.  Arts have aesthetics as their primary purpose, as opposed to (say) science or toolmaking, which have more practical objectives.

Yes, sometimes the arts get employed for something practical--didactic theatre, music therapy, etc.--but we have no trouble seeing that the practical application is a derivation, not the common purpose of those forms of artistic expression.

Answer 5

A painting requires a little mystery, some vagueness, and some fantasy. When you always make your meaning perfectly plain you end up boring people. – Degas

It is very good to copy what one sees; it is much better to draw what you can't see any more but is in your memory. It is a transformation in which imagination and memory work together. You only reproduce what struck you, that is to say the necessary. – Degas

Art is vice. One does not wed it, one rapes it. – Degas