According to art theory, the artistic image...

According to art theory, the artistic image can be viewed on three levels: ideal, mental and material.

Ideal awareness is the most abstract level of artistic thinking - the result of an intellectual quest.

The mental level is feelings and emotions, the experience of images. It is at this level that unconscious creativity as such manifests itself.

The material is the level of embodiment, with means of expression such as line, tone, color, form.