# What Is Art? — Chapters explained

> Chapter companions for What Is Art? by Leo Tolstoy.

- [The Author’s Preface](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/what_is_art_se/chapters/the-author-s-preface.md): Tolstoy explains the history of his book 'What Is Art?', detailing how it was mutilated by Russian censors after he agreed to compromises to get it published. He describes the alterations made by Professor Grote and the 
- [What Is Art?](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/what_is_art_se/chapters/what-is-art.md): Tolstoy introduces the central problem of defining art, critiquing existing aesthetic theories that rely on pleasure or beauty. He argues that true art must be distinguished from counterfeit art and that the prevailing c
- [I](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/what_is_art_se/chapters/i.md): Tolstoy opens by highlighting the confusion and contradiction surrounding the definition of art, noting that artists of different schools mutually exclude one another. He describes the enormous labor, expense, and human 
- [Chapter II](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/what_is_art_se/chapters/ii.md): Tolstoy questions the common understanding of art as the production of beauty, showing that the concept of beauty is vague and disputed among philosophers. He argues that the sacrifices demanded by art in society must be
- [Chapter III: Aesthetic Theories of the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/what_is_art_se/chapters/iii.md): Tolstoy surveys the major aesthetic theories from the 18th and 19th centuries, focusing on English, French, Italian, Dutch, and German philosophers. He examines definitions of beauty and art by Hutcheson, Home, Burke, Di
- [IV](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/what_is_art_se/chapters/iv.md): Tolstoy argues that existing aesthetic definitions of art, based on beauty and pleasure, are circular and fail to provide a true definition. He contends that such definitions merely justify the art favored by a particula
- [Chapter V: The Infection Theory of Art](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/what_is_art_se/chapters/v.md): Tolstoy defines art as the transmission of feelings from one person to another, causing infection. He critiques previous definitions (physiological-evolutionary, experimental, and Sully's) for focusing on pleasure rather
- [Chapter VI: The Religious Basis of Art and Its Decline](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/what_is_art_se/chapters/vi.md): Tolstoy argues that the value of art is determined by the religious perception of a society, which defines good and evil. He traces how early Christianity recognized only art that transmitted feelings of love, humility, 
- [VII](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/what_is_art_se/chapters/vii.md): Tolstoy argues that the upper classes, having lost faith in Church Christianity, adopted beauty as the standard for art, leading to the invention of aesthetic theory. He critiques the conflation of beauty and goodness in
- [Chapter VIII](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/what_is_art_se/chapters/viii.md): Tolstoy argues that the art of the upper classes is not true, universal art, but a counterfeit that serves only a small elite. He contends that this art is inaccessible to the vast majority of working people due to its c
- [IX](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/what_is_art_se/chapters/ix.md): Tolstoy argues that the unbelief of the upper classes has perverted art, stripping it of religious subject-matter, beauty of form, and sincerity. He contends that true art transmits fresh feelings from religious percepti
- [Chapter X](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/what_is_art_se/chapters/x.md): Tolstoy argues that art cannot be both good and incomprehensible to the majority; true art is universally accessible and infects all people regardless of education or development. He criticizes the notion that the masses
- [The Substitution of Counterfeits for Art](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/what_is_art_se/chapters/xi.md): Tolstoy argues that the art of the upper classes has become so impoverished in subject-matter and unintelligible in form that it has ceased to be real art and has been replaced by counterfeits. He identifies four methods
- [XII](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/what_is_art_se/chapters/xii.md): Tolstoy identifies three conditions that produce counterfeit art in society: the professionalization of artists due to high remuneration, the rise of art criticism, and the establishment of art schools. He argues that th
- [Chapter XIII: Wagner and the Counterfeit of Art](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/what_is_art_se/chapters/xiii.md): Tolstoy uses Richard Wagner's operas, particularly 'The Nibelung's Ring', as a prime example of counterfeit art. He argues that Wagner's attempt to force music to serve poetry destroys true artistic creation, producing o
- [XIV](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/what_is_art_se/chapters/xiv.md): Tolstoy argues that most of what upper-class society considers art is actually counterfeit, not real art, because it fails to transmit genuine feeling. He contrasts the infectious joy of peasant singing with the artifici
- [XV](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/what_is_art_se/chapters/xv.md): Tolstoy defines the distinguishing mark of true art as its infectiousness—the ability to unite the receiver with the artist and with others. He identifies three conditions that determine the degree of infectiousness: ind
- [Chapter XVI](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/what_is_art_se/chapters/xvi.md): Tolstoy establishes a definitive criterion for judging art: its infectiousness and accessibility. He argues that true Christian art must unite all people through feelings of love for God and neighbor, or through simple u
- [XVII](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/what_is_art_se/chapters/xvii.md): Tolstoy argues that art is one of two organs of human progress, alongside words, for interchanging feelings. He contends that in modern society, the organ of art has been perverted, depriving the upper classes of true ar
- [XVIII](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/what_is_art_se/chapters/xviii.md): Tolstoy argues that the art of the upper classes has become corrupted because they abandoned true Christian teaching without fully embracing it, leading to a counterfeit art driven by gain and pleasure. He contrasts this
- [XIX](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/what_is_art_se/chapters/xix.md): Tolstoy envisions a future art that breaks from the exclusive, perverted art of the upper classes. He argues that true art of the future will be based on religious perception, transmitting feelings that unite all people,
- [XX: The Conclusion](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/what_is_art_se/chapters/xx-the-conclusion.md): Tolstoy concludes his work by emphasizing the profound role of art in shaping human behavior and society. He argues that art, guided by true science and religious perception, can transform the feeling of brotherhood and 
- [Appendices](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/what_is_art_se/chapters/appendices.md): The appendices provide supplementary material, including a translation of an excerpt from a letter by Richard Wagner and a translation of a poem by Baudelaire, which illustrate the aesthetic theories discussed in the mai
- [I](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/what_is_art_se/chapters/i.md): The chapter opens with a translation of Mallarmé's 'The Future Phenomenon,' depicting a decaying world where a showman presents a preserved, beautiful woman from the past to a miserable crowd. The spectators react with i
- [Chapter II](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/what_is_art_se/chapters/ii.md): This chapter presents a collection of poems by contemporary French poets, including Jean Moréas, Comte Robert de Montesquiou-Fezensac, Francis Vielé-Griffin, and Émile Verhaeren, all drawn from page 28 of their respectiv
- [III](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/what_is_art_se/chapters/iii.md): Tolstoy provides a detailed, sarcastic summary of Wagner's 'The Nibelung's Ring' cycle, highlighting its absurdities, incoherent plot, and the unintelligible motivations of its characters, ultimately arguing that even hi
- [IV](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/what_is_art_se/chapters/iv.md): This chapter presents translations of French poems and prose, including works by Baudelaire, Verlaine, and Maeterlinck, exploring themes of love, hatred, death, and the sublime in art.
- [Endnotes](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/what_is_art_se/chapters/endnotes.md): The endnotes provide translator's notes, citations, and clarifications on Tolstoy's references, including discussions on censorship, aesthetics, and various philosophical and artistic sources.

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