In his book "Psychology of Art" (concluded in 1925), L.S. Vygotsky writes about the subject art and life, dialoguing with some of the major aesthetic theories of his time. The aim of this theoretical study is to contextualize these interlocutors and some of the ideas of this author, presenting the fundamental arguments about the relationship between art and life in the struggle between realist and symbolist branches of Russian modernism, especially in literature and visual arts. We conclude that Vygotsky's perspective on the subject, in tune with the great aesthetic discussions of his time, is still relevant to consider the manifestations of contemporary art, whether in its realistic tendencies or in the field of performance.
Vygotsky; art; modernism