If a savage requires artificial sounds for his dance, he is induced thereto by sexual impulse. The artificial sounds, from which through centuries the music of today developed, moved savages to an expression of passion in the form of dancing. If the man of today attends a concert he is not seeking the music for _practical_ results, but _pleasure_. Also here the original _practical_ motive changed to the _aesthetic_. That means that also here the practical want of the body changed to that of the _soul_. During this progress toward refinement (or spirituality) of the most simple practical (or bodily) wants, two consequences are to be noticed throughout: The _separation_ of the spiritual _from_ the bodily element and its further _independent development_ through the different arts. Here the above mentioned laws (of the inner element and the form) gradually apply with ever increasing force, until finally out of each art comes a _pure_ art. This is a steady, logical, natural growth, like the growth of a tree. The process is to be noticed in painting. First period, _Origin_: _Practical_ desire to make use of _physical_. Second Period, _Development_: The gradual separation of this _practical_ purpose, and the gradual ascendancy of the _spiritual_ element. Third Period, _Aim_: The attainment of a higher stage in _pure art_; in this the remains of the practical desire are _totally separated_ (abstracted). Pure art speaks from soul to soul, it is not dependent upon the use of objective and imitative forms. We can distinguish all of these three stages in various combinations in paintings of today. First Period: _Realistic Painting_. The realism here is understood to be such as developed traditionally into the nineteenth century--the _practical_ desire to exhibit objective realities--portraits, landscapes, historical paintings, etc., in the direct sense. Second Period: _Naturalistic Paintings_ in the form of Impressionism, of the New Impressionism and Expressionism--to which partly Cubism and Futurism belongs: The separation of the _practical_ aim and the _general preponderance_ of the _spiritual element_; from Impressionism through Neo-Impressionism to Expressionism always increasing separation and always increasing preponderance of the spiritual. Apparently in this finer development _nature_ as such is no more taken into consideration; but this is only “apparently” so, for as a matter of fact nature is used as a motive, a background, a basis for the pictures, and if the attempt is made to separate the natural or _objective_ part of the picture from the purely artistic, the result is the picture falls for lack of support. * * * * * In other words, in most of even the very abstract paintings, such as even Picasso’s, there is a foundation, a background of objects without which the pictures would not exist.