What is existentialism in the art world Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

What is existentialism in the art world - Essay Example This research will begin with the statement that existentialism can be described as a philosophy that came about during the occupation together with the French post-war era of 1945.This was an era of great transformation with the atrocities and aftermath of the World War II leaving Europeans and possibly the whole world’s population re-examining the significance of their existence and simultaneously being confronted by not only death, nuclear threat but also mass destruction. During the post-war era, existentialism spread through to all aspects of mainline modern-day thinking which saw a general interest for explaining man’s place within the field of things being developed. The greatest exponent of existentialism Jean-Paul Satre took Martin Heidegger’s and Soren Kierkegaard's texts and re-examined and added them to a contemporary existentialism philosophy. Other prominent existentialists comprise Genet, Beckett, Camus, Ponty, Ponge as well as Simone de Beauvoir w ho was also Sartre’s partner. Thus, the post-war climate brought with it not only a new but also devastating dimension for the person as well as the world politics. The philosophy of existentialism is closely related to art production. Thus according to Sartre, the consciousness of man is subjective and therefore can never objectively become aware of its own self except via â€Å"Other’s gaze†. Consequently, if other individuals act as mirrors, then it means the work of art too can be viewed as a mirror.