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Essay / The Advantages of Art in the Portrait of Dorian Gray By...
Arguing that a flower is useless in the same way, in the way it blooms for its own joy. All we get out of it is just a moment of joy to witness its blossoming. Wilde holds the belief that art is useless because art itself has no purpose other than to be beautiful. Moreover, any value we place on it is due to a “misuse” of art. Wilde's idea that the sole purpose of art is to be beautiful, and therefore useless, may be true, but it concerns selected works of art. This however requires that both the artist and the viewer agree that the artwork being created is only intended to be beautiful, because if either party disagrees, the art gains in utility. If the artist creates the work so that it has meaning other than beauty, then it is useful. If the viewer sees meaning in a work that was only meant to be beautiful, then it is useful, but this is what Wilde calls a “misuse” of art. However, there can be no abuse of works of art. Because once a work of art is made available to the general public, it no longer belongs to the artist, philosophically speaking of course, since the artist still retains the physical property rights. The nature of art is open to interpretation, hence the expression “beauty is in the eye of the beholder”. This means that viewers will interpret the art in their own way, and it is no longer the artist's idea. The idea of the artist and that of the spectators may in fact align, but they will each remain their own.