fine art

American  

[fahyn ahrt] / ˈfaɪn ˈɑrt /

noun

• fine arts
  plural

1. a visual art considered to have been created primarily for aesthetic purposes and judged for its beauty and meaningfulness, specifically, painting, sculpture, drawing, watercolor, graphics, and architecture.

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fine art British  

noun

1. art produced chiefly for its aesthetic value, as opposed to applied art

2. Also called: beaux arts. (often plural) any of the fields in which such art is produced, such as painting, sculpture, and engraving

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fine art Idioms  

1. Something requiring highly developed techniques and skills, as in He's turned lying into a fine art, or The contractor excels in the fine art of demolition. This term alludes to the fine arts, such as music, painting, and sculpture, which require both skill and talent. It is now often used to describe anything that takes skill to do. [First half of 1800s]

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• fine arts
  plural

Etymology

Origin of fine art

First recorded in 1760–70

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

fine art

As the Prado museum demonstrates, Madrid knows its fine art.

From BBC ● Sep. 10, 2026

The museum aims to celebrate visual storytelling in all its forms: among them fine art, photography, comics, science-fiction illustrations and, of course, movies.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 9, 2026

“Is it fine art? It’s finer art because it’s actually telling a story,” Lucas said at a museum party last week.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 8, 2026

As a young man, Mansour studied fine art in Jerusalem but went on to develop his own distinctive style.

From BBC ● Aug. 26, 2026

Goupil's sells fine art and reproductions to middle-class people all over the world.

From "Vincent and Theo: The Van Gogh Brothers" by Deborah Heiligman