Theory of painting

Aesthetics appears to be the general theory of all art. It comes through all history of humankind and serves to describe the theoretical part of every art trend. It was founded by Aristotle in Ancient Greece and has been developing since that time. Plato, for example, was rather negative about painters. He claimed that painting cannot reveal the truth and equaled it to any kind of manual labour. By the time of the Renaissance, painting became much more realistic displaying not only Biblical scenes but social engagements as well. It was Da Vimci who was one of the first who expressed positive attitude towards Fine Arts.
In the eighteenth century (the Age of Reason and Rationalism), the painting was seen as one of three "romantic" and "frivolous" arts, along with Poetry and Music. However, during the Age of Romanticism, the overall meaning of painting is completely acknowledged and endowed with all "rights".
The first painters who expressed their views on the painting and formed the theoretical fundamentals of modern painting in this way were Kandinsky and Paul Klee. Kandinsky asserts that painting has a spiritual value, comparing prime colours with certain psychological associations.
At the same time, a specific direction of painting, that is iconography starts to be scientifically investigated and fully appraised at the time.
What's more, art historians turn their attention to painting and elaborate historical structure of it.
By the middle of the 19th century, the theory is painting is created.