The only way to achieve this goal, Ortega y Gasset contends, is for modern art to “dehumanize” itself, that is, to move drastically and consciously away from lifelike depictions so as to render reality in abstraction. Modern art for Ortega y Gasset thus attempts to retrain our eye to look at the art itself, in large part by refocusing us on its formal features in a way that makes “purely aesthetic elements predominate” (9). In other words, in representational art we cease to see what makes it art, and visually latch onto the representation itself. In this sense, we become enraptured by the story representational art tells us rather than by its lines, colors and composition. Such an art for Ortega y Gasset, however, is “impure” (11) because it does not directly appeal to “true artistic pleasure” (9) that should arise from an enjoyment of artistic form alone. Behind this aim of representational art lies the idea that clarity and accuracy can give us, as Ortega y Gasset puts it, “imaginary intercourses” (21) with the depicted objects. Central to his argument is a progression he sees from representational art to modern art, which he describes as a fundamental move from “human” or “realistic” art to what he calls “dehumanized art.” Representational art, says Ortega y Gasset, seeks to act like “an extract from life” (12) by creating a lifelike illusion of figures, scenes and situations as we might see them in real life.
In his 1925 book The Dehumanization of Art, José Ortega y Gasset seeks to delineate, justify and champion modern art and its move toward abstraction. 2013 Sosland Prize in Expository Writing Olivier Simon
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