Theory of Art, Formalism

Piet Mondrian, 1924-25

According to Wikipedia, "The formalist theory of art asserts that we should focus only on the formal properties of art--the "form" not the "content". Those formal properties might include, for the visual arts, color, shape, and line. Formalists do not deny that works of art might have content, representation, or narrative-rather, they deny that those things are relevant in our appreciation or understanding of art."  The question for me is, can you separate the content from the form?  Art is subjective and I believe people are unable to objectively look at a piece of art and separate content from form.  Art is about color, shape, and line, but what those colors, shapes and lines produce is relevant to a person's appreciation of the artwork.  The brain takes in the whole artwork and does not segregate form from content, that's my opinion.  Enjoy!