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.”

Example Sentences

The doctrine of art for art’s sake is for decadent aesthetes, oozing privilege.

From Washington Post • Aug. 25, 2022

More than art for art’s sake, more for arts for the betterment of our communities’ sake.

From Seattle Times • Apr. 19, 2022

But that’s just it: This is art for art’s sake.

From New York Times • Dec. 15, 2021

Chelsea have an aristocratic air about them right now, unbeaten in all 11 matches under Thomas Tuchel, while the modern Leeds are foppish aesthetes hell bent on nothing more dangerous than art for art’s sake.

From The Guardian • Mar. 13, 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