Why Do We Need Art?

Reading Nietzsche's The Birth of Tragedy has gotten me wondering why people feel such a draw to transcendent art. I cannot think of an individual I have met who does not seek out some form of art, however sophomoric in appearance. People tend not to agree on forms of "high art" vs. "low art", but they regardless are pulled to whatever they deem to be the highest form of art which satisfies their aesthetic mind. It may be music, theater, movies, books, etc, in all of which the stratification of "high" and "low" art as subsets exist.

I won't spend this essay detailing Nietzsche's beliefs since I myself do not yet understand them. As far as I know right now, the unity between the duality of the Apollonian and Dionysian brings forth the most sublime form of art, the same form which underlines the finest Greek tragedies of the days of Homer, Aeschylus, and Sophocles. The Apollonian force represents the god Apollo, in whom we can observe cold, calculating, austere beauty and logic. A pure aesthetic visualized through the curtain of a dream-state. To the contrary, the Dionysian details the intoxication of man as a consequence of his primal, animal nature. It surrenders to its own urges. These representations arise naturally out of nature without artistic mediation, and the unity of these two forces finds itself at rare intervals amidst its constant struggle and lifts humanity out of nihilism.

The Dionysian intrigued me as far as it outlines the most basal human instinct. Nietzsche was famously against drinking as he believed it actively denied life by provided a veil of numbness over its suffering. However, the feeling of inebriation spoken of when analyzing the Dionysian comes from the purity of nature, a frenzy of passion and the dissolution of formal boundaries. I'm not sure we here in the modern age experience such intoxication without the aid of psychoactive compounds, but I began to wonder at our behavior when involved with such compounds like alcohol; what part of our intrinsic nature comes out when we drink? It seems to change with what we drink, with whom we drink, and with what purpose we drink, but can a common thread be found to link all of these things? I don't know yet.

The Apollonian , on the other hand, inspired this essay. Perhaps by its own definition it floats on the surface of the mind easier than the riddling Dionysian. However disconnected from the world we may feel, everyone has dreams. Through the lens of these dreams, the Apollonian makes itself apparent. As I mentioned earlier, the order, the logic, the cold austerity of the Apollonian appealed to me in particular.

However, I began to question the definition of these terms and their unity. Specifically, I wondered how the Apollonian and the Dionysian changed over time. Were these aspects of Nietzsche's writing the same now as they were when he wrote them in the early 1870's? I thought not, because the entire book, The Birth of Tragedy, was written in large part as a love letter to Nietzsche's good friend, at the time, Richard Wagner. Nietzsche was exploring these aspects of dramatic theory as they pertained to Wagner and the greater German culture, which he believed to be standing upon the precipice of doom through nihilism.

Now, it could be that the great rivers of the Dionysian and the Apollonian do not change through history. In the former case, the Dionysian was shown through "dithyrambs", or wild choral chants of Ancient Greece often dedicated to Dionysus himself. By Nietzsche's time, there were likely few people actively practicing dithyrambs. Instead, people had shifted to other forms of music. Some may call it more refined, but wild dancing, raucous music, and the unchecked bridge between man and his deepest nature was still strong in the hearts of the general population. The Apollonian veil of dreams had grown strong over it; we claimed in the 19th and early 20th century to preserve logic and order over the wild, maybe in enthusiastic response to the Enlightenment, but regardless it was evident by the constant pushing of formal boundaries by the youth that humans had a penchant for seeking out the Dionysian.

These days the Apollonian seems to have relaxed and another balance is being struck between it and its brother. People are more comfortable with primal promiscuity and less concerned with the preservation of austerity and logic. The Apollonian and Dionysian form subconscious rivers shared by the collective of humanity, whose tributaries may dry up and change over the course of generations as the aesthetic definitions of popular art change but whose purpose and contextual basis do not. We are trapped by the geists of our time as we live. In some generations, the Apollonian dominated while in others the Dionysian usurped his brother. As far as I can tell, our generation defines its art on the Dionysian basis. I have not yet decided or definitively observed whether the interplay and reconciliation between the two forces still indicates the highest, purest, and most sublime art. I sense that it would, in rare instances.

To finish briefly on the analysis of such art itself, it may seem that we are in the middle of a period in which "high" art - art which at least makes known the Apollonian or the Dionysian, does not exist. I disagree. Even in the days of the Ancient Greeks, not all art was created equal. There was art which the people of the time may have seen as similarly trashy to that which we admonish today. History was the great equalizer. Through the passage of time, only a select few cases of esteemed art remained. The same will be true for the art of our time if our culture lasts another few thousand years. In 2023, artistic accessibility and distribution has all but peaked. Accessibility, a double-edged sword, ensures that while we can easily listen to the music with which we individually find meaning, we can find a hundred times more music which gives us no meaning. The dilution of the content-space also contributes to the false sentiment that no "high" art exists, or that the influence of Apollo and Dionysus are gone. They still exist, and they will always exist so long as humans as we know them exist on this world.

Humans need art because we feel the pull of these opposing forces in our souls, and we seek their divine resolution. If we can but find the art that, to us as individuals, lifts us to the unity of Apollo and Dionysus, we may experience the best, most pure bliss we can know on this earth. That is why we strive.