The book seeks to develop from a minimum of presupposition a framework within which the arts may be viewed and explained. The fundamental natures of poetry, painting and music are separately addressed allowing key distinctions to be made between these three art forms. More generally, the relationship of the arts to both religion and science is explored; and the development of the arts from the earliest times considered, along with whether there was (or will be) a best time to be an artist. A compatible way of categorising both traditional and modern art is proposed; and similarly for the sciences. This enables direct comparisons both within the arts and between the arts and the sciences, leading to a view on the origin of modernism. The case is made for traditional modernism (which combines the accessibility of tradition with the relevance of modernism) and the role it might play considered. The work concludes with a discussion of what threatens the arts; where they now are; and where they might be going.