The aesthetic experience and the layers of the art work. Aesthetics as the essence of art

Abstract

The subject of this paper is to claim that the aesthetic experience is the essence of the experience of the work of art. I argue against the view hold by Arthur C. Danto, according to which modern art does not require the aesthetic experience any more and that this fact means the end of art. The aesthetic experience allows explaining only the art made be-tween the Renaissance and the XIX century. The modern work of art of the XX century can only be explained conceptually and therefore a philosophy of art is required to make that content explicit and clear.

To defend the aesthetic status of the work of art I will show that the aesthetic experience identifies itself with the phenomenological ex-perience. This means that the aesthetic experience makes us aware of the difference between the content of the work (what appears) and the sensible lived experience in which this content appears (the appearance). The “appearance” and “what appears” are the two poles of Intentionality and the two fundamental layers of the work of art. Through the phenomenological approach I will make clear that the work of art does not exclude the conceptual content at all. This content has to be necessarily embodied. It is not philosophy that has to disclose this con-tent but the aesthetic experience alone.