The philosopher Nietzsche said: art occurs as a synthesis of Dionysian and Apollonian elements. The Dionysian aspects are beat and rhythm and the Apollonian aspects are melody and harmony.

This article seeks to explain how Nietzsche’s theory of art works in art, literature, painting and music.

In music, the Apollonian elements are melody and harmony and the Dionysian elements are rhythm and beat. Music, the highest form of art, synthesizes Dionysian and Apollonian elements. Music is the art of the soul. Music gives passion to the ears. In classical music, the Apollonian elements are more marked. In rock and blues music, it is the convergence of Dionysian elements. Dionysian elements are also fused in rap music.

Now let us examine how Nietzsche’s theory of art works in literature. What is literature? Literature is the music of words. How is this music produced? What are the Dionysian things present in literature? The Dionysian elements are the ego and the body of the writer and this is where the Dionysian elements emerge from. The Apollonian elements are the structure, shape and texture of the work. The form, texture and structure of the work become the melody. Now let’s look at various stages, or various periods of work through which literature has passed. The first is classicism. Classicism is a work of art of a mimetic nature. Art in classicism is the likeness of nature. Now let’s take a look at the romantic period of literature. Art in the romantic period is marked by spontaneous feelings and intense emotions. Romantic art is an allegory of an existing fable. Now let’s take a look at the Surrealist period of literature. Surrealist literature focuses on the subconscious and the inner workings of the mind. Now let’s take a look at postmodern literature. Postmodern literature is characterized by allusion, reflexivity, metatheory, and also by an unreliable narrator. The Dionysian elements of literature are the writer’s form, body, and ego, and the Apollonian elements are the rhythmic display of form, texture, and content.

Now let’s examine how Nietzsche’s theory of art works in painting. The Dionysian elements of art are the artist’s consciousness and also the palette and brush. Dionysian elements are the product of a finished work of art. Art has gone through several periods and they are classicism, romanticism, expressionism, impressionism, surrealism, cubism and pop art. Art during the classical period showed the result of mimesis. Art was a likeness of nature. Art during the romantic period was marked by the passion of overflowing feeling. Art during the expressionist phase was characterized by the expression of feelings such as Munch’s scream. Surrealism in art sought to discover the forces that work in dreams and reality. Dalí’s The Persistence of Memory is a unique representation of Surrealist art. Picasso’s cubism was the positioning of art objects in abstract dimensional patterns. Pop art produced representations of natural objects and disassembled them into cultural and aesthetic concoctions.

To conclude I would like to say that Nietzsche’s theory of art is the fusion of the Dionysian and the Apollonian. The Dionysian elements are rhythm and beat and the Apollonian elements are melody and harmony.