art for art's sake

English

Etymology

French l'art pour l'art, a phrase credited to Théophile Gautier. Some argue Gautier was not the first to write those words. They appear in the works of Victor Cousin, Benjamin Constant, and Edgar Allan Poe.

Noun

art for art's sake (uncountable)

1. (art, slogan) Art with no function; whose only purpose is beauty.

Synonyms

• ars gratia artis

Translations

art, slogan

• Czech: umění pro umění
• Finnish: taide taiteen vuoksi
• French: l'art pour l'art
• Galician: arte pola arte
• German: Kunst um der Kunst willen f, l'art pour l'art
• Hungarian: művészet a művészetért
• Japanese: 芸術のための芸術 (geijutsu no tame no geijutsu)

• Korean: 예술지상주의 (yesuljisangjuui)
• Latin: ars gratiā artis f
• Macedonian: уметност заради уметност (umetnost zaradi umetnost)
• Portuguese: arte pela arte f
• Russian: иску́сство ра́ди иску́сства (iskússtvo rádi iskússtva)
• Spanish: el arte por el arte, arte por el arte
• Swedish: konst for konstens skull

Further reading

• art for art's sake on Wikipedia.Wikipedia