What makes good art?

There are so many different ways to judge art but I guess one way of starting is to try to analyze what the artist was trying to present with the art piece. If the artist is going for realism then the judgment is pretty easy; does the piece represent its object in a way that you feel like you could touch it? For example; Are the shadows in the right places, if there’s skin can you see the pores or individual tiny hairs?

If the artist goes towards emotionalism - as you could maybe guess from its name the art should be emotional, or even better; cause an emotional response from the viewer.

There’s the art that is trying to tell a message. Political, social, maybe moral or religious! This would be called Instrumentalism.

Then there’s a formalism that I don’t even try to explain because I found an amazing 2min youtube video that explains it far better than I ever could: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BsvOpMarAg0

As you are analytical, you would probably enjoy this article from Wikipedia about mathematics in visual arts https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mathematics_and_art

One of my favourite paintings is the garden of earthly delights by Hieronymus Bosch. In this painting, there are many elements to appreciate and it is for me like a dance or piece of music. When I’m looking at this painting, I’m interested in the pure amount of imagination but also how my eyes move across the painting, how everything is proportioned, symmetries, and perspectives.