Many people have the subjective view that art is beauty and we call beauty that which gives us a particular kind of pleasure. All definitions amount to the same thing-that art is that which makes beauty manifest, and beauty is that which pleases one man and displeases another.
So scientists cannot work out the laws of art, trying to find a theory to fit us all. The kind of pleasure we receive from beauty is that which pleases us without evoking desire in us, something universally perfect, and we acknowledge it to be so only because we receive, from this perfection, a certain kind of pleasure.
If we say that the aim of any activity is pleasure and that it is defined by that pleasure, our definition will be false. The pleasure we get from a painting is no indication of its worth. In order to define art correctly, it is necessary to cease considering it a means of pleasure, and to consider it as one of the conditions of life. Viewed in this way, we see that art is one of the means of communication between human beings.
Every work of art causes the receiver to enter into a certain kind of relationship both with the artist, and all who receives the same impression. Just as works transmit thoughts, so art transmits feelings through visual language. The activity of art is based on the fact that when we witness a man experiencing an emotion, we to some extent share it. But feelings are subjective and passing, although powerful at the time. This is why people are so proud of having emotions. The trouble is that they do not attempt to study their emotions, a thing that would help them by creating a distance from their emotions. Art can give this distance, because by depicting emotions, it helps the onlooker toward the study their because by depicting emotions, it helps the onlooker toward the study of his own emotions. 
Art is not pleasure, but a means of union among men, joining them together in the same feelings. If people lacked this capacity for being affected by art, people might be more savage still, and more separated from one another. Real art must be contagious to the receiver of a true artistic impression.
A real work at art destroys the separation between itself and the artist, and even between itself and all those others who also appreciate this art. In this freeing of one's personality from its isolation and uniting it with others, lies the great attractive force of art. A good work of art depends on 3 things:
1. The individuality-originality of the feeling transmitted.
2. Its clarity.
3. The sincerity of the artist and the degree of force with which the artist feels the emotion he transmits.
If the viewer feels that the artist works for himself, one is affected, but if he/she feels that the artist is not affected, but is trying to influence him, the viewer feels a resistance, and is repelled instead. AL can be summed up in a word - sincerity. In every age there exists an understanding of the meaning of life which represents the highest level that has been attained. It appears that in our society the great evil is that we do not value art which feeds the spirit, but that we are lured by an empty and often vicious art, which hides from us our need for true art.
And true art for our time would demand the union of all people without exception ... it sets brotherly love to all men.
G.W.F. Hegel (1170 - 1831) "On the Philosophy of Fine Art"