Marissa: The function of art

In the last chapter of Jane Ellen Harrison's Ancient Art & Ritual, she entertains the notion of art serving a real function. Art is more than a way to please the senses or an artifact of luxury. Harrison says, "art is of real value to life in a perfectly clear biological sense; it invigorates, enhances, promotes actual, spiritual, and through it physical life," and I agree with her identified functions. I would add to her insight with the notion that art can be an outlet of expression for the artists. Art can also form connections between people based on their shared ideas of beauty or their shared identity with the art.