ABSTRACT
The contention that art is a kind of language has been given a veneer of plausibility because its proponents have bought into a kind of theory about language in general. Language itself is said to be a system of signs and a sign is defined as a union of meanings (concepts) and what he calls sound-images; both of which are said to be psychological entities. The view that painting is a kind of language and its corollary that it is a different kind of language has introduced considerable obscurity into the discussion of particular works of art. The primary force behind the thesis that art is a kind of language derives from Fernand de Saussure. Ferdinand de Saussure thought of language as a code for expressing thoughts. De Saussure's picture of how words get their meanings and how communication takes place has some of the appearance of a genuine scientific theory.
