Bell proposes two hypotheses: the aesthetic hypothesis and the metaphysical hypothesis. According to the aesthetic hypothesis, every work of visual art possesses significant form as a general property. The metaphysical hypothesis, on the other hand, focuses on the question: “Why does the arrangement and combination of forms in art affect us in such a peculiar way?”
Bell defines significant form as the combination of lines and colors that provoke aesthetic emotion, as found in Cézanne’s style of painting. According to him, “In individual works of art, lines and colors are uniquely combined, and the particular forms and their relationships evoke our aesthetic emotion.” Bell’s hypothesis supports aesthetic formalism because what makes something a work of art is its possession of significant form, and that standard is solely related to the capacity to produce aesthetic emotion. In other words, the expression of lines and colors that aesthetically stimulate the viewer—and the relationship between those formal elements—serves as the criterion that distinguishes art from non-art.
Bell’s theory of artistic form deliberately avoids representational properties within artworks. He claims that descriptive paintings with representational qualities are not art, because they employ form not as an object of feeling but as a means of conveying emotion or information. Another reason Bell sees representation as a negative trait is that the imagery evoked by representational content contaminates the purity of aesthetic experience.
In this respect, Bell is considered a purist. He searches for a property unique to art alone. The purist, in pursuit of the autonomy of art, seeks to eliminate any external elements that enter from the outside world. In this context, Bell argues that we bring nothing from life into our aesthetic contemplation of art. He draws a strict distinction between the emotions of life and aesthetic emotion, claiming that the former must be excluded from art. According to Bell, the emotions of life are nothing more than extended feelings produced by immature artists through representation—feelings that fail to generate forms capable of evoking aesthetic emotion. Thus, emotions of life are simply signs of a flaw in the artwork.
Bell claims that when an artist perceives an aesthetic object, they already grasp it as pure form, and they convey their emotion through the expressive arrangement of lines and colors. This also suggests that the artist is capable of realizing a particular kind of emotion. According to Bell’s hypothesis, the reason the arrangement and combination of forms affects us so deeply is because the artist reveals reality through lines and color, and those pure forms generate an emotional response in which the form itself is felt as meaningful reality.
Summary
The only value of art lies in significant form; specific meanings or practical purposes are of no importance. A work of art evokes a unique aesthetic emotion through its significant form—and this experience is considered universal.