What Do We “Express” When We Express Ourselves Through Art?

Our emotions, or something else beyond?

Vase, Bottle and Fruit (1906) by Henri Matisse. Oil on canvas. 73 × 92 cm. State Hermitage Museum, Saint Petersburg, Russia. Image source Wikipedia

We tend to take for granted the idea that artists express themselves in their art.

The thought is that artists “put something of themselves” into their work, perhaps transferring their inner emotions and feelings into their imagery.

The assumption appears everywhere, in the language spoken in art galleries, exhibition reviews, art biographies and in everyday conversations around art. “There’s so much expression in their work,” might run a typical appraisal.

But what does this really mean? If we’re talking about emotions and feelings being transmitted through an artwork, then how does this happen?

Or is expression in art something else altogether?

Thought Experiment

The Yellow House (‘The Street’) (1888) by Vincent Van Gogh. Oil on canvas. 72 × 91.5 cm. Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam, Netherlands. Image source Wikimedia Commons

Try this thought experiment: Look at the painting shown above, of Vincent van Gogh’s “The Yellow House” in the French town of Arles.

Historians know quite a lot about this painting, about when and where it was made, and the condition of Van Gogh’s mind at the…