What is a picture?

In this film by Milner Productions, Dr. George Boas, Johns Hopkins University professor of the history of philosophy, meets with students at the Baltimore Museum of Art. He looks at Piet Mondrian's "Composition V" and explains its composition and rhythm. In comparison, he considers Marguerite Gerard's "Mother," a story picture like Norman Rockwell's "Saturday Evening Post" covers, and shows how its design is composed of triangles and vertical oblongs. Next, Dr. Boas interprets the subject, symbols, and design of a painting by Honore Daumier, best known for his caricatures. He also explains Elihu Vedder's allegorical picture "The Soul Between Doubt and Faith." Dr. Boas shows Picasso's portrait of "Leo Stein," and concludes with an explanation of Andre Masson's fantasy painting "There Is No Finished World," dealing with the precariousness of human life. He admits that all pictures are complicated and that there is no one definition of art.