The authors of the article addressed one of the fundamental aesthetic and philosophical problems, the solution of which is closely related to the understanding of the essence of art as a special form of spiritual life and intellectual activity.Theoretical reflections on this topic have a long history, but the context in which it is considered is constantly changing – both because of the internal evolution of art itself, and as a result of the accumulation of specific knowledge and the improvement of research tools. For this reason, the solution of the problem tackled in the article is periodically reviewed and requires constant reinterpretation. This article attempts to investigate the problem at the current level of understanding of the structure and content of thinking.The study is complex in nature. Using data from various sciences, especially theoretical works of modern psychology (the concept of multiple recoding, the concept of a figurative-conceptual model of reality, etc.), the authors draw attention to a complex composition of thought processes, in the structure of which figurative and conceptual elements are closely intertwined, making it difficult to clearly and unambiguously distinguish between artistic and scientificphilosophical thinking. In this perspective, various examples of the influence of science on the method of artistic creativity and artistic styles are considered on specific historical material.On the other hand, some artistic experiments that proclaimed the idea of merging art with science (the so-called conceptual art, sci-art) are also considered. It is shown that the implementation of this idea, despite the theoretical claims of its authors and their followers, in fact, did not yield any significant aesthetic results. Ultimately, the consequence of such interpretations of art inevitably becomes the loss of its aesthetic essence and specific role in the system of culture and public consciousness.