We explain what artistic expression is, what types exist and their importance.

What is artistic expression?
artistic expression It is the way of exploring, manifesting and communicating ideas, emotions or sensations through of the art and artistic procedures. This means that every known art form constitutes an artistic expression. The person who paints, writes, composes or interprets through the procedures of each artistic discipline prefigures a world that becomes a work to be contemplated and appreciated by someone else.
Although there are professional artists, artistic expression is available to anyone who wants to experience it. Thus, you can use different artistic procedures to explore the world of symbols and express yourself freely.
There is, however, no clear consensus regarding what exactly it means to express, nor about what artists express in their works, nor why some works are considered more expressive than others at a given historical moment. Disciplines such as psychoanalysis, for example, ensure that artistic expression is the unconscious content of the mind, while other areas such as anthropology or sociology point to the cultural context. Aesthetics, for its part, deals with the philosophical aspect.
Artistic expression is often part of school curricula. Traditionally, it is offered through one or more subjects that deal in particular with the so-called fine arts: painting, sculpture, dance, literature, music, among others. This approach conceives art as a limited activity separated from other areas of knowledge, which is currently obsolete. Artistic expression is present in one form or another in all the intellectual activities of human beings both humanistic and scientific.
Key points
- Artistic expression consists of exploring, manifesting and communicating ideas or experiences through art.
- All people can express themselves artistically.
- There are many different types of artistic expression, which are not limited only to the so-called “fine arts.”
- Artistic expression is present, in one way or another, in all creative activities.
- Artistic expression has existed since the origins of human beings and is the basis of all culture.
See also: Contemporary art
Types of artistic expression

The idea of artistic expression is related to the concept of art, which is polysemic (that is, it includes several meanings at the same time) and is always subject to debate. In this sense, There are as many forms of artistic expression as there are ideas about art which gives rise to countless classifications.
According to the traditional vision of “fine arts”, five main types of artistic expression could be distinguished:
- pictorial expression
Pictorial expression refers to artistic creation related to painting, that is, the application of substances with pigments on a surface (which may be a canvas, a sheet of paper or something else). They can be figurative images (recognizable in the physical world) or abstract (without correspondence with the forms of reality).
- sculptural expression
Sculptural expression corresponds to artistic creation related to sculpture, a discipline that uses hands and other specialized instruments to shape moldable materials (such as clay, plasticine, flexible dough or plaster), or that assembles elements already existing to obtain works of different types, which are called sculptures.
- musical expression
Musical expression refers to artistic creation related to music, which is the art of producing, through the voice or specific instruments, related sounds that can evoke feelings or impressions. All cultures make music, but each one has its own notions, codes and classifications to carry out its expression.
- literary expression
Literary expression is related to literature, that is, to the use of words for aesthetic purposes to compose works. These works can be stories, novels, essays, poems, plays or other types, and usually incorporate various literary resources, such as metaphors, similes, metonymies and others.
- body expression
Corporal expression refers to the arts that use the body to express themselves. Among them are dance, which consists of the movement of the body to the beat of the musical rhythm; theater, which involves the representation of works on a stage by one or more people, and performance, which involves the direct action of the artist with an audience.
Other forms of expression artistic: There are many other forms of artistic expression. Among them, collage can be mentioned; audiovisual arts (photography, cinema, animation); the comic or the cartoon; architecture; street art; the illustration; interventions (direct actions to modify objects, spaces or situations); electronic and digital arts; conceptual art; he land art (which integrates with nature); graphic arts, and even memes.
Importance of artistic expression

Artistic expression is one of the main forms of manifestation and communication of the human experience Through this route, people have been able not only to externalize perceptions, sensations, ideas and concepts, but also to know more deeply their inner world and their links with others.
In this sense, artistic expression has existed since the origins of human being. The first manifestations date back to prehistory, when primitive man represented his experiences by drawing with his hands on the walls of caves (what is known as cave art), as well as dancing, singing or decorating his own body with bones, stones and wood fragments.
Creating and sharing messages, objects or meanings so that they are appreciated, contemplated and identified by others constitutes the basis of all culture. Therefore, artistic expression challenges us, dialogues with who we are and reflects in some way our essence as human beings.
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References
- Hospers, J. (Ed.). (1971). Artistic Expression. Appleton-Century-Crofts.
- Petock, S. J. (1972). Expression in Art: The Feelingful Side of Aesthetic Experience. The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism, 30(3), 297-309.