Is art powerful or is the power contained in the thoughts it represents?
I find the most power a painting or work of non verbal art can have is in the questions it inspires.

The thoughts it conjures, I would describe them as.

Art can be powerful for many reasons if you know which language it is portrayed in. A beautiful still life of a vase of flowers is pretty until someone points out they are all poisonous plants. That's where the power can be found.

Or stopping in front at a monster sized canvas with a postage stamp in a corner and saying ' what the fuck is that all about. ' or a pile of bricks or a photograph of a mushroom or mushroom cloud etc. The power is with the reader. The power is in choosing the language you read with. Or simply the time taken to notice it.

Who is portrayed as an empty skin in the Sistine chapel ceiling.

And what the heck was Jackson Pollack drinking ?