From the aperception of Santayana to the interpretation of Danto. The new role of the spectator in postmodern art

Abstract

The traditional relationship that the artistic spectator had maintained with works of art throughout history underwent profound changes with the arrival of modern art. The progressive appreciation of the conceptual and philosophical section that occurs with the first avant-garde movements – and, to a greater extent, with artistic manifestations from 1960 onwards – turned this spectator into an active subject in the construction of the meanings of the work of art. This question aroused the interest of some thinkers such as the Spanish philosopher George Santayana, who proposed the concept of "apperception" to explain, in a certain way, the subject's ability to complete forms and meanings – natural and artistic – that are presented to him in an incomplete or ambiguous way. Some time later, the American philosopher and art critic Arthur Danto developed a whole theory around artistic interpretation as an ontological process by which the viewer assumes the role of "co-artist" in the creation of works of art and their meanings. This research proposes a relational study of both authors in order to explain the new active role of the spectator in postmodern art.