Analysis of artistic form in the works of José Ortega y Gasset in the context of the history of formal art studies

The subject of the study is the views of the Spanish philosopher, literary scholar, and cultural theorist José Ortega y Gasset on art and the significance of artistic form, as well as their connection to the traditions of formal art criticism. The definition of artistic form proposed in his works is examined, as well as the use of his theoretical approaches by the Spanish researcher to analyze the work of Diego Velázquez. The author also considers the context in which Ortega y Gasset's views were formed: the work of his predecessors—the classics of formal art criticism—the concepts of artistic form they established, and the successes of non-objective avant-garde art, which required philosophical, artistic, and scientific interpretation. Such a broad context is necessary to establish connections between Ortega y Gasset's ideas and general trends in the development of philosophy and art practice in the first half of the 20th century. The main method of research is the comparative method, which allows for identifying similarities and differences between Ortega's concepts and those of his predecessors, as well as the comparative-historical method, which explains the origin of the identified differences. The study concludes that Ortega y Gasset's formalism represents a development and continuation of the concepts of the classics of formal art criticism, but in different historical and social conditions related to both the growing individualization of European culture and the turbulent successes of avant-garde art. While for G. Wölfflin or A. Riegl, artistic form was something eternal and unchanging, Ortega starts from the infinite diversity of forms produced by the artist, each of which serves as a way to realize his individuality. Thus, the study reveals the significance of the Spanish philosopher's work for the history of Western art criticism and his place in the evolution of formal representations of art. Ortega's views culminate in the development of formalism in the 20th century and serve as a prologue for iconological studies.