As I wrote in I don’t understand music (part 4 – what is the reason for its existence?) it is easier to find a reason for images – they are simply a representation of physical, visibly, reality. There are in images of course, abstrations and fantasias – but we can assume that these are distortions of what we see. I don’t want to analyze abstractive art but I will wrote something about painters:
When I was a young boy I heard the question: “why musicians agree with each other, but painters, when they meets together – thet are argue about crafting?”
The answer came to me unplanned while writing the blog: Painters argue about their craft more often because the object being represented is the external world or fantasies about it. Musicians, although they often engage in mutual criticism, are not “possessive” because the object being represented is an abstraction connected to their souls—and these are not shared.
In my youth, I also wondered why the Bible forbade the creation of images. I have many clues, but no “iron-clad conclusion.” Image and sound have completely different effects on the human psyche and development, and the processes of creating, shaping, and maintaining civilization are a topic beyond my reach.