What makes good art?

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In this essay I will be discussing what, in my own opinion, makes good art. To justify what I consider to be a good standard of art, I will be analyzing the work of French symbolist Eugene Carriere and contrasting this with artwork I consider to not be 'good art'. The art piece, by Eugene Carriere, I chose to look at first is The First Communion, due to its significant use of symbolism. Sybolism is often used to provoke emotion in a viewer, an example of how this is used in The First Communion is the inward eyes of the subject. This conjures up a mysterious and isolated atmosphere for the viewer, suggesting the idea of an inner world of thought. I believe that a piece of artwork with symbolic reasons behind its concept does contribute towards creating good art. Symbolism allows artwork to become a means of visual communication beyond what's obvious. The First Communion was painted during the beginning of the French Symbolism movement. During this time artists were rejecting naturalism and realism art forms, these artists, like Carriere, wanted to express their visions and ...

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