This introduction to art is intended as a practical guide. It discusses main problems likely to be encountered (or overlooked) by those who seek to understand works of art. Given the vastness of the field it covers, it cannot be deeply searching or complete. It aims, rather, for comprehensiveness and systematic order and pretends no more than to take the reader on a rapid sweep through the landscape of the arts, hoping to give him a broad idea of its contours and configurations. Perhaps this introduction may also instill in some readers a curiosity about matters only briefly touched upon here, and a desire to return to them on their own.