In looking at art, Nietzsche feels that the development of art is dependent on the Greeks and their duality of the Apollonian and Dionysian states of existence. The Greeks had a split in art between sculpture (Apollonian) and music (Dionysian). The opposition between the two cause each one to create new and more powerful things to gain the upper hand in the struggle. Finally, he feels they merge in the Greek Hellenic will and generate the Attic tragedy.

To understand this progression, Nietzsche describes how the Apollonian and Dionysian states came to be in the Greek world. He starts with the analogy of dreams and drunkenness to illustrate the contrast between both states. Dreams are important to the plastic arts since we immediately comprehend all form while in the dream state. Like Schopenhauer, Nietzsche feels that this reveals a reality that exists beyond our usual perception of reality and that it can be used by someone who is aware of this as a way to interpret life (pg. 499). The Apollonian state thrives on the dream because it can be used to communicate higher truth, unlike the everyday conscious world. Apollo appears in dreams as the highest expression of principium individuationis, which places appearance and beauty together. The dream state also provides a sort of help and healing during sleep that makes the everyday living in the world possible and worthwhile.

The Dionysian state happens when the principium individuationis collapses which Nietzsche compares to drunkenness. In this state we identify more with the primitive and lose ourselves in self-forgetfulness. Instead of being individuals, as in the Apollonian state, people lose themselves in the emotion of the moment and all the barriers that normally separate people have been broken down. Man is also reunited with nature and there is a Primordial Unity between all things. Everyone becomes part of a feeling of Oneness.

With these analogies in place, Nietzsche further elaborates on the idea of a created art, as his previous descriptions exclude the hand of the human artist. For Nietzsche, Doric art is the embodiment of the Apollonian state by the artist. Yet the rigidity of these sculptures were contradicted by festivals where the Dionysian emerges as an artistic phenomenon. Although the music was Doric, and hence considered Apollonian, it could only go so far before it became suggestive of the Dionysian. This weird sort of melding leads the individual, who originally enjoyed the music for its Apollonian aspect, into the Dionysian where they lose themselves in the moment and become part of the One. Hence, it is revealed to the Apollonian Greek that the Dionysian state is connected with the Apollonian state.

With this connection firmly established, Nietzsche explains why this separation is so important to the ancient Greek psyche. Reminiscent of Schopenhauer, an ancient Greek tale tells of how King Midas hunted demigod Silenus to find the answer to what the best and most desirable thing for man is. Silenus answered ‘What is best of all is beyond your reach forever: not to be born, not to be, to be nothing. But the second best for you - is quickly to die' (pg 505). The Greeks knew about the misery and terror of existence. In order to deal with this truth, they created a glorified, mirrored image of themselves as deities so that life itself would become manageable. The Apollonian state acts as a veil which hides the horrible truth behind beauty and appearance. The words of Silenus are forgotten, so the Apollonian Greek feels true sorrow when they are divorced from this veil of the truth. Here, the concept of the naive artist plays an important part as the enforcer of the illusion. The artist totally believes in the veil and doesn't see what is beyond the Apollonian state. The earlier mentioned dream state is similar to the naive artist as both are creating ‘an appearance of an appearance' and blissful ignorance for the Apollonian Greek.

The Dionysian as it reveals that the truth of existence is based on suffering. Therefore, the whole Apollonian existence relies on the fact that reality is pain and suffering. Once the individual has been caught up in the Dionysian state, they forget about the construct of the Apollonian. Instead of staying in the unity of the Dionysian state, the Greeks return to the construct of the Apollonian state. Therefore, the Dionysian release is only a temporary tunnel that points to a reality that is beyond the Greek construct of Apollo. To Nietzsche, art also serves this purpose. It is ‘an appearance of an appearance' but its construct serves to dissolve the construct of reality we believe in and points toward something beyond. Art serves as a tunnel beyond the Apollonian veil.

When including the artist in this, Nietzsche describes the difference between the lyrist and the plastic artist. The plastic artist is immersed in the world of images and contemplation of them. I think that the plastic artist is much like the naive artist as they are caught up in the illusion and actually reinforce the trap, rather than pointing a way out. What appears to be very objective actually turns out to be subjective, as only the individual is involved. The lyrist, who is seemingly subjective turns out to be objective on closer examination. The lyrist does not base their art on any images. Instead this art comes from suffering and the Primordial Unity. The subjective individual is superseded by the One. Therefore, this art actually has an objective basis, rather than a subjective one. For Nietzsche, the greatest representation of both the objective and the subjective is in the lyric genius. This person is the living representation of the struggle between the Apollonian and the Dionysian. They can transfer between both states becoming both the subject and the object. I think that the lyric genius is the most powerful manifestation of the reality beyond our perception of reality.