Full Idea
If art expresses anything, it expresses an emotion felt for pure form and that which gives pure form its extraordinary significance.
Gist of Idea
The only expression art could have is the emotion resulting from pure form
Source
Clive Bell (Art [1913], III.I)
Book Reference
Bell,Clive: 'Art' [nk 2010], p.48
A Reaction
I don't think 'expresses' is the right word here. Artists express, but works just transmit. I personally doubt whether anything can have 'extraordinary significance' simply because it expresses one particular emotion. Why art, but not geometry?