symbolic nature. Very concretely, this means that forms in art are always symbolic of something else, even — and this is a fascinating thought — when the forms in question are very "pure" or "elementary", as is the case in music and abstract painting. The great challenge, which is revealed by the fundamental paradox of formalism, is to find an answer to the question: how would it be possible to see art as form, without, at the same time, neglecting the content, the expression? A similar formulation of the problem arises from the opposite point of view, the expression theory. Here the question is: how can we consider art as expression, and at the same time acknowledge the importance of composition, the medium, the style or technique? In both cases, that of formalism and that of the expression theory, the one-sidedness obliges us to look for an idea about art in which justice is done to form and expression equally." /> Art as a synthesis of form and expression - van den Braembussche Antoon | sdvig press