What does Monaco mean by the term “The Spectrum of the Arts”? 

The spectrum refers to the development of ‘art’ throughout decades of history, and it explains how eventually film and other sorts of recorded media found its own place within the form of art.  

In the beginning, the ancients recognized History, Poetry, Comedy, Tragedy, Music, Dance and Astronomy as the seven forms of art. These forms were used as tools to understand the world and culture around them. As for the Greeks and Romans, they further categorized Poetry into three categories: Lyric, Dramatic, and Epic.  

However, as centuries passed, changes to these aforementioned forms of art were made. Dance, for starters, was dropped from the list and replaced by Geometry, which marked the growing importance of mathematics and other more “scientific” forms. And in the twentieth century as the modernized version of science was developing, recorded media was starting to revolutionize.  

Film became an entirely new art form in which there was a much more direct understanding between viewer and creator. Visually, film changed the way art could be consumed. Then, when sound and colour got created within films, marking the end of the silent film era, the art of cinematography really cemented its place in the so called “Spectrum of Arts”.