Fine art

In the academic traditions of Europe, fine art is developed primarily for aesthetics or creative expression. This distinguishes it from decorative art or applied art, which also has to serve some practical function, such as pottery or the majority of metalwork. Decorative and applied arts include: pottery, most metalwork, and most sculpture. The aesthetic theories that were developed during the Italian Renaissance believed that the highest form of art was the kind that allowed the full expression and display of the artist's imagination. These theories believed that this type of art should not be constrained by any of the practical considerations that are involved in, for example, the process of making and decorating a teapot. It was also regarded crucial that the creation of the artwork would not need the collaboration of several people, each of whom had a certain set of talents, in the same way as it may be required for the creation of a piece of furniture, for example. Even within the realm of the fine arts, there was a hierarchy of genres that was determined by the degree of creative imagination that was necessary, with historical painting considered higher than still life.

The performing arts, on the other hand, included theatre and dance.

Outside of the realm of education, the idea is almost never put into reality for anything other than the visual arts. Prints and drawings by ancient masters were considered to be connected kinds of painting, just as prose forms of writing were considered to be related forms of poetry.

A visual art that is regarded to have been developed largely for aesthetic and intellectual objectives and that is assessed for its beauty and meaningfulness; especially, painting, sculpture, drawing, watercolour, graphics, and architecture. This is one definition of the term "fine art." The phrase "fine arts" may be contrasted with "decorative arts" and "applied arts" due to the existence of distinct conceptual distinctions between the three (these two terms covering largely the same media). Fine art was distinguished from popular art and entertainment by the fact that the perception of aesthetic qualities required a refined judgement, which is typically referred to as having good taste. This was one of the factors that distinguished fine art from other forms of artistic expression and entertainment.

Black Square was created by Kazimir Malevich in 1915 using oil on linen and measures 79.5 x 79.5 cm. It is now on display in the Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow.

The term "fine" does not so much refer to the quality of the piece of artwork in issue as it does to the authenticity of the practise in accordance with the historic canons of Western European art. This definition previously did not include the "useful" applied or ornamental arts, as well as the products of what were considered to be crafts, with the exception of architecture, which was considered to have a practical value and was thus included. These differences and constraints are largely irrelevant in current practise since the idea or aim of the artist is given prominence, regardless of the methods through which this is represented. This has rendered these distinctions and restrictions completely worthless.

Although comparable genre characteristics may apply to the art of other civilizations, particularly those of East Asia, the phrase is often exclusively used to refer to Western art that was created from the Renaissance and up to the present day. The term "major arts" is sometimes used to refer to the collection of "fine arts," whereas the term "minor arts" is synonymous with the term "decorative arts." This would normally be used for artwork from the middle ages or the ancient world.