The Four Elements

The four elements of nature, otherwise known as the classical elements, typically refer to Air, Earth, Fire and Water and (later) aether, which were proposed to explain the nature and complexity of all matter in terms of simpler substances. Ancient cultures in Greece, Tibet, and India have similar lists. Local languages refer to "air" as "wind" and the fifth element as "void". These different cultures and individual philosophers had widely varying explanations concerning their attributes and how they related to observable phenomena as well as cosmology. What united them, however, was an awareness of these different altering states being used to explain our planet.  Sometimes these theories overlapped with mythology and were personified in deities. 

While the classification of the material world in ancient Indian, Hellenistic Egypt, and ancient Greece into Air, Earth, Fire and Water was more philosophical, during the Islamic Golden Age in the Medieval era we can mark a clear scientific interest in proving a concrete delineation between the elements. Modern day science has given rise to atomic theory which proves this phenomena. Yet still to this day, humans are engrossed in the aura of the natural elements and we can see this in art. The four elements of nature have inspired art since the beginning of its creation. If we date art back to the point of cave man drawings, fire imagery appears alongside symbolic drawings to the other elements such as water and wind. Since this time, the four elements have not ceased to provide inspiration to artists. Perhaps this is down to the ephemeral nature of the subject that attunes so well to the inner spirit of the artist.

Artsper has many artistic interpretations of the classical elements inspired by nature's core. Discover the work of Ana Daganzo, Futura 2000 and Zin Taylor to name a few artists who follow in this line of work.