Subjectivity and Objectivity in Art

Understanding the gap between personal and public responses to art

Mr and Mrs Andrews (c. 1750) by Thomas Gainsborough. National Gallery, London, UK. Source Wikimedia Commons

Subjectivity in art is the word we use to explain how individual people can respond to a work of art in different ways. Subjectivity is based on personal opinions and feelings rather than on agreed facts. A painting might be “beautiful” to one person and “ugly” to another, but the material…