Understanding the mechanisms of Art and recognising its limits have occupied humanity since time immemorial. Anything that defies definition, like Art, Friendship and the girl at the next desk to yours - all those definitions of the greater world systems - has a quality which has not been investigated fully. Though they can only show part of the object, they do achieve a collateral result: that of describing the describer, often revealing through his attitude a particular era or context. The talent used to fascinate the reader, to such an extent that he is convinced he has seen the invisible and expressed the inexpressible, gives life to a very special form of art: the art of definition. To the Greats of metaphor, parable, anecdote and epigram, we can add the forgotten category of the specialists in definition. This short digression is to relieve our conscience of the sensation of working in vain. If we should fail in our attempt to define Art, at least we will be giving a definition of ourselves.
   We could put forward a distinction between two forms of Art: Art which was created as Art and Art which becomes Art. Certain objects are in fact recognised as artistic by their creators themselves, while others are given that surname by adoptive fathers. There may be a geographical, sociological or historical gap which makes the artistic value of an object invisible in the area, culture or era in which it initially forms. A voodoo mask, for example, or a Totò film, did not begin life as a work of art, but gradually became such in our eyes. The expressive force of these products is revealed as we move into a different culture or into a later age. The opposite may also happen, as in the case of a certain type of court or academic music, painting or literature, which must have delighted ladies and gentlemen, princes and scholars in the past but is today no more than an oddity and given little esteem. A corkscrew or a lock - everyday objects created by humble hands - may instead with time reveal an attraction and eloquence we could call art. This brings us to our first principle: since Art is not what is felt to be such, it is defined as such only because of its origin. Since Art is language, it is not always immediately comprehensible to those who produce it or those who judge it. Yet the greatest Art makes its first appearance as such and remains so, becoming ever more exalted through the centuries, like the Art of the Beethovens, Michelangelos, Leonardos, Dostoyevskijs, Dantes, Van Goghs, Shakespeares and Caravaggios of this world. Here we have something more, a multiplicative factor: the Artist. It is not wrong to call a motorbike or a cigarette lighter a work of art. The object becomes art because of its sublime proportions, or because of the richness of its history or the poverty of ours, though it is of course less expressive than a Rembrandt. So here's another aphorism: Art is not democratic, but subject to inexorable hierarchies. To reach its peaks the extreme qualities of a great personality are needed. Some will judge this to be a concept in decline, but a knight's way of thinking embraces a radical principle that frees us from the common way of feeling. As regards Art, it is Form which defines a Content and therefore achieves the supreme result only if taken to its extreme consequences. The Poet goes straight to the essence of things, first in life and then in his work. In some cases the two levels merge into one, as we see in the attitude of the dandy. He is the connoisseur of that most exclusive and self-sufficient form of art: the art of living. Being both slave and arbiter of detail, nothing of what he does is left to chance. The same law governs his choice of furnishing, his house, his way of living and dying. The public is the canvas on which he paints the shock he can create. These concepts lead us to a third conclusion: not all Art is visible or may be reproduced. This does not mean that no memory can remain of typically extemporaneous arts like the Corrida or Elegant Life. On the contrary, its invisible works remain alive for a long time in the memory of men and when they vanish from individual memory, they remain forever in the collective memory. According to our Charter of Principles, we declare our loyalty to the conception of Living as Art. Those who find this obvious or dated should forgive us: it would be much worse to be forced to be original at all costs.