Art provides knowledge

Art can often tell you more about the artist as a person then you would ever learn in any other way. When an artist is creating something they tend to put a little piece of themselves into their work weather they realize it or not. For instance in the work of Salvador Dali you can tell that he is a rather off the wall sort of person, which of course if you look at photos of him is quite obvious. You can also tell that he is most likely rather confused about life and perceives it in a very different way from most people. If you watch movies by Tim Burton they are quite dark and it is obvious that he is dark minded and rather unhappy alot of the time which, according to interveiws with himself and those who know him well, is quite true. Art can also teach about the artists surroundings and upbringing depending on the type of art.