art for art's sake

Cultural  

1. A slogan meaning that the beauty of the fine arts is reason enough for pursuing them — that art does not have to serve purposes taken from politics, religion, economics, and so on. Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Edgar Allan Poe, and Oscar Wilde argued for the doctrine of art for art's sake.

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Ars Gratia Artis, the motto of the film company Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM), is a Latin version of “art for art's sake.”

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art for art's sake

It may wink at the industry’s unseen heroes, but who can afford to make art for art’s sake in the entertainment industry anymore?

From Los Angeles Times ● May 20, 2026

But let’s at least try to remember the point of art for art’s sake.

From Washington Post ● Aug. 25, 2022

I can also imagine a viewer who sees the quirky, thespian’s-eye treatment of the subject as twee and art for art’s sake.

From New York Times ● Dec. 15, 2021

“To a certain extent,” she said, “it’s art for art’s sake and I’d be OK not being able to climb it and simply experience it.”

From Seattle Times ● Aug. 26, 2021

They come to believe in what he believes—not in art for art’s sake, but in art as a way of fully embracing, and understanding, life.

From "Drama High" by Michael Sokolove