Artistic and Philosophical Itineraries

Abstract

The accounts given by artists concerning their artworks and the interpretation given by philosophers about those same artworks are clearly distinguishable and separate. Artists, in this view, explain their works because they have been the actors, the producers of art and therefore with their explanations they speak of causes and effects, or, in other words, they make clear and discuss the how and why a given painting or sculpture has come to life. Instead, a philosopher works with concepts and interprets works of art with tools that are common to both artists and philosopher, that is, imagination, intuition and understanding. However, these tools are not identical to those of the artist. Because of the specific, conceptual nature of philosophy there is no perfect identity between the verbal elaboration of an artwork given by the artist and the interpretation of the philosopher, and this fact makes their encounters something to be valued.