expression theory of art a theory that defines art as the expression of feelings or emotion (sometimes called expressionism in art). Such theories first acquired major importance in the nineteenth century in connection with the rise of Romanticism. Expression theories are as various as the different views about what counts as expressing emotion. There are four main variants. (1) Expression as communication. This requires that the artist actually have the feelings that are expressed, when they are initially expressed. They are ’embodied’ in some external form, and thereby transmitted to the perceiver. Leo Tolstoy (1828–1910) held a view of this sort. (2) Expression as intuition. An intuition is the apprehension of the unity and individuality of something. An intuition is ‘in the mind,’ and hence the artwork is also. Croce held this view, and in his later work argued that the unity of an intuition is established by feeling. (3) Expression as clarification. An artist starts out with vague, undefined feelings, and expression is a process of coming to clarify, articulate, and understand them. This view retains Croce’s idea that expression is in the artist’s mind, as well as his view that we are all artists to the degree that we articulate, clarify, and come to understand our own feelings. Collingwood held this view. (4) Expression as a property of the object. For an artwork to be an expression of emotion is for it to have a given structure or form. Suzanne K. Langer (1895–1985) argued that music and the other arts ‘presented’ or exhibited structures or forms of feeling in general. See also AESTHETICS , INSTITUTIONAL THE- ORY OF AR. S.L.F.