Problem statement: Theosophical criticism has been developed from the Iranian thinker’s and sages’ opinions. There are scattered discussions and rules about art and the artist in the views of Iranian thinkers and philosophers. The theosophical criticism is criticizing artworks by these criteria; extracted rules and regulations from ancient Iranian mystical philosophical wise sources. The lack of written sources on art criticism using the views of Iranian sages and mystics highlights the need for this research. In this research, two questions have been answered: First, what is the concept of imitation of an artwork expressed from the real world based on theosophical criticism? How is the similarity of artwork with the eternal world expressed through the lens of theosophical criticism?
Research objective: This study attempts to present Iranian scholars’ views in art and art criticism on the issue of compatibility and similarity of work with the world. This article deals specifically with the similarities between a work of art and the universe (whether modeled on natural resources or the eternal universe.).
Research method: In terms of purpose, this study is a kind of basic theoretical research and in terms of nature, it is a qualitative study using content analysis.The method of data collection in this study is bibliographic. The sample of this study is the poetic works of Iranian mystics and sages, which belong to the post-Islamic period from the texts of the fifth to ninth centuries AH.Due to the multiplicity of mystical wise sources, five divans of poetic texts were selected as a sample through the purposive sampling method.
Conclusion: The results of the research have shown that the closer the work of art is to the source of nature or the more it is in harmony with the world of creation, the more beautiful, ideal, and better it is.The more an artist can align his work with the real world using the example of the universe, the more artistic he is.The artist must be a man of humor and imitation. He must have the power to draw and illustrate the real and strange world.