#2.
Now it follows from this that the sensuous must indeed be present in the work of art, but should appear only as the surface and as a pure appearance of the sensuous. For in the sensuous aspect of the work of art the spirit seeks neither the concrete material stuff, the empirical inner completeness and development of the organism which desire demands, nor the universal and purely ideal thought. What it wants is sensuous presence which indeed should remain sensuous, but liberated from the scaffolding of its purely material nature. Thereby the sensuous aspect of a work of art, in comparison with the immediate existence of things in nature, is elevated to a pure appearance, and the work of art stands in the middle between immediate sensuousness and ideal thought. It is not yet pure thought, but, despite its sensuousness, is no longer a purely material existent either, like stones, plants, and organic life; on the contrary, the sensuous in the work of art is itself something ideal, but which, not being ideal as thought is ideal, is still at the same time there externally as a thing. (Aesthetics 38)
Here, Hegel fleshes out his distinction between the sensuous and ideal aspects of the artwork by employing the notion of "a pure appearance of the sensuous." This allows him to avoid falling into the trap of pure idealism, and thus, disqualifying his credentials for talking about art. The spirit is not concerned with a practical "sense" of appetitve desire for "material stuff," nor is it concerned only with "ideal thought." Hegel explicitly states that "the work of art stands in the middle between immediate sensuousness and ideal thought." Further, the idea of a "scaffolding" is particularly suggestive, hinting at what could be considered an unfinished quality immanent to the artwork, which would not yet have removed the mechanical supports of its creation and thus be inadequately prepared for a total transfusion of spirit. Also, the 'scaffolding' can be considered a ladder which is no longer necessary after the work has been completed; that is, just because a painting is on a ceiling doesn't mean that one needs a ladder to view it properly. Thus, the removal of the scaffolding that connects art to its "material nature" enables the "pure appearance of the sensuous" to intermingle with ideal thought. The rhetorical construction of the "not yet . . . no longer," the two poles of this comparison, can be viewed as paradigmatic for the creation of an in-between space -- perhaps even a negative space if we emphasize the not and the no. Hegel appears to have hollowed out a space in which the work of art -- something ideal which is not ideal; something sensuous without being "a purely material existent" -- can work through the appearance of its own mediation. Art doesn't just "appear" to work, it makes appearances work and makes its appearance as work: "The artwork makes mediation appear, it simulates it, and it gives a character of completeness and perfection to this pure appearance."[[NOTE 19]