Aestheticism
Art-for-art's-sake doctrine
Aestheticism is a 19th-century artistic movement holding that art exists for its own sake, independent of moral, political, or practical purposes.
Associated with Oscar Wilde and Walter Pater, it elevated beauty and sensory experience above all other values.
The term now describes any philosophy or lifestyle that prioritizes aesthetic pleasure: Her aestheticism extended to every detail of her home.
Aesthetic excellence
- art for art's sakeIntrinsic value of creation
- formalismPrivileging structure over substance
- sensualismPhilosophy elevating physical pleasure
- tasteFlavor perception ability
refinement · contemplation · appreciation · intrinsic value · autonomy · disinterestedness · idealism · sublimity
- Pre-RaphaelitesMid-1800s artistic brotherhood
- fin de siècleCentury's closing cultural moment
- dandyismPreoccupation with elegant dress
- SymbolismArt emphasizing ideas over reality
Rossetti · Victorian · Ruskin · Morris · peacock feather · sunflower · lily
Refined evaluative expertise
- cultivationFostering growth through care
- interior decorationArranging a room's look
- collectingGathering items over time
- curatedDeliberately selected and organized
sensibility · discernment · sophistication · epicurean · dilettantism · affectation · preciousness · rarefied
beauty
Aesthetic excellence
- art for art's sakeIntrinsic value of creation
- formalismPrivileging structure over substance
- sensualismPhilosophy elevating physical pleasure
taste · refinement · contemplation · appreciation · intrinsic value · autonomy · disinterestedness · idealism · sublimity · transcendence
Oscar Wilde
- Pre-RaphaelitesMid-1800s artistic brotherhood
- fin de siècleCentury's closing cultural moment
- dandyismPreoccupation with elegant dress
Rossetti · Symbolism · Victorian · Ruskin · Morris · peacock feather · sunflower · lily
connoisseurship
Refined evaluative expertise
- cultivationFostering growth through care
- interior decorationArranging a room's look
- collectingGathering items over time
curated · sensibility · discernment · sophistication · epicurean · dilettantism · affectation · preciousness · rarefied · exquisite
Aestheticismutilitarianism
Greatest-happiness moral theory
functionalism · pragmatism · philistinism · didacticism · moralism
Aestheticismdidacticism
Art prioritizing instruction
moralism · social realism · propaganda art · naturalism · realism
Aestheticismasceticism
Severe self-denial practice
puritanism · austerity · philistinism · Protestant work ethic · plainness
aesthetic, aesthete, aesthetics, aesthetical, aesthetically, unaesthetic, anaesthetic, anaesthesia, anesthesia