Art for art's sake

Art for art's sake—the usual English rendering of l'art pour l'art (pronounced [laʁ puʁ laʁ]), a French slogan from the latter half of the 19th century—is a phrase that expresses the philosophy that 'true' art is utterly independent of any and all social values and utilitarian function, be that didactic, moral, or political. Such works are sometimes described as autotelic (from Greek: autoteles, 'complete in itself'), a concept that has been expanded to embrace "inner-directed" or "self-motivated" human beings.

This article is about the English expression. For the 10cc song, see Art for Art's Sake (song). For the 1938 Swedish film, see Art for Art's Sake (film).

The term is sometimes used commercially. A Latin version of this phrase, ars gratia artis (Classical Latin: [ˈars ˈɡraːtiaː ˈartɪs]), is used as a motto by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and appears in the film scroll around the roaring head of Leo the Lion in its iconic motion picture logo.

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