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There is no one universal definition of art but there is general consensus that art is the conscious creation of something beautiful or meaningful using skill and imagination. But art is subjective, and the definition of art has changed throughout history and in different cultures. Extreme examples aside, every time a new movement in art has developed, the definition of what is art, or what is acceptable as art, has been challenged. This is true in any of the different forms of art, including literature, music, dance, theater, and the visual arts.

 Blue Mountain Monuments by Jeffrey Durrant

"The Arts," as a term, has an interesting history. During the Middle Ages, The Arts were very scholarly, limited to seven categories and they did not involve creating anything for people to look at. They were grammar, rhetoric, dialectic logic, arithmetic, geometry, astronomy, and music. To further confuse matters, these seven Arts were known as the "Fine Arts," in order to distinguish them from the "Useful Arts." Why? Only "fine" people—those who did not do manual labor—studied them. Presumably, the Useful Arts people were too busy being useful to require an education. 

  Sugilite Pendant by Wendy Newman

At some point in the ensuing centuries, people realized there was a difference between a science and an art. The phrase fine arts came to mean anything that had been created to please the senses. After losing the sciences, the list now included music, dance, opera, and literature, as well as what we normally think of as "art": painting, sculpture, architecture, and the decorative arts.

  Jack Rabbit by Shari Michaud

The visual arts are those creations that we can see rather than something like the auditory arts, which we hear. These art forms are very common and extremely diverse, from the artwork that hangs on your wall to the movie you watched last night.

  Prelude to Sunset by Marsha Modine

“ In art, the hand can never execute anything higher than the heart can imagine.”  - Ralph Waldo Emerson