What exactly is classified as art and what is not is very subjective. Some people have very creative minds and can picture almost anything as art. I remember seeing a paining at the Chicago Art Institute about ten feet wide, and it was just painted solid black, with a tiny sliver of yellow at the bottom. This painting absolutely baffled my mind. I can sometimes understand abstract art, or at least recognize the fact that a piece of art took a long time to create and a lot of effort was put in. In all honesty, however, even I could paint a giant canvas black with my fabulous art skills. Take a piece of abstract art, splatter painting, for example. I can understand how certain colors are used to convey emotion. I can even stretch it to "the way the paint is splattered on the canvas shows-. But there is a certain point when art can just no longer be appreciated. .
I would definitely describe paintings such as Andy Warhol's soup cans as art. First of all, not anyone can draw that. I am positive that I could never draw a picture like that. Also, the simple fact that it has lived on for so long implies even further that it is art. Shakespeare's sonnets have persevered through generations, and I think even the soup cans will live on for a long time. .
The odd thing about art is that there is no one way to describe what is and what is not art. Every person has a different taste of what type of painting or even play they like. I am sure that some people would even love to have the infamous aforementioned giant black piece of canvas hanging in their home. Art is just a different form of expression. It is a good visual stimulation and lets our minds think even deeper than in analyzing a poem.
I remember last year in high school we had a three week chapter on art in Spanish class. We would sit and look and slides for an entire period a couple times a week. When learning of the "true" meaning behind a painting, one just thinks to themselves, "Oh god give me a break.