Hegel's idea of the ‘end of art’ has been a topic of ongoing discussion in the philosophy of art since his death in 1831. Two of the twentieth century's greatest philosophers, Heidegger and Adorno, both developed interpretations of art that engage directly with this idea. The person who appears to embrace the idea most enthusiastically, however, is Arthur Danto, who has even described himself as a ‘born-again Hegelian’. Yet how much impact has Hegel had on Danto's philosophy of art and of the history of art?

Hegel and the ‘end of art’

Hegel identifies three ways in which art may be said to come to an ‘end’. First, he maintains ‘art has its end in the comic’, especially the comedy of Aristophanes. Art gives expression to the truth through particular, finite shapes, images or sounds. The comic character, however, shows his freedom ‘from the content and forms of finitude’ by laughing at his own foibles and at the frustration of his particular aims. In so doing, he manifests a profound sense of inner reconciliation and satisfaction: ‘the absolute freedom of the heart’. Such freedom is human and worldly; yet it points forward to religion because it is an inner freedom attained by letting go of what is finite. Comedy brings art to a logical – though not historical – end, therefore, by pointing beyond art to religion in Hegel's philosophical system.