Real ideal
Existence appearance
Matter within the mind
For Schelling, an achieved work of art is the embodiment of the ideal within the real, not merely something through which the mind recognizes its own powers of judgment. This position is in response to Kant’s sole aesthetic interest only involving judgment. Kant’s aesthetics is never derived from things in the world, but rather concerned with transcendental faculties of the mind.
“Matter, in our view, is an aggregate of ‘images.’ And by ‘image’ we mean a certain existence which is more than that which the idealist calls a representation, but less than that which the realist calls a thing–an existence placed half-way between the `thing’ and the ‘representation.’.” – Henri Bergson