Oscar wilde quotes about art full#

In his letter “De Profundis ,” he wrote: “I had disgraced that name eternally. Wilde feared that he had ruined his family name. To better understand the man behind the myth, here are a few things you might not know about the ostentatious Oscar Wilde. He may commit a sin against society, and yet realize through that sin his true perfection.” He may be bad without ever doing anything bad. He may keep the law, and yet be worthless. A man cannot always be estimated by what he does. And as Wilde once wrote, “Personality is a very mysterious thing. It was a tragic end, and sadly, even today, the events of his life are perhaps more widely known than his work.īut there was a lot more to Wilde than writing, wit, and scandal: He was a complex man with a complex personality.

His name was tarnished, his reputation left in tatters, and he spent his remaining years in exile in France, where he died in a cheap hotel in 1900. His homosexuality became public knowledge, and soon he was charged with gross indecency and sentenced to two years of hard labor. With typical wit, he replied, “I have nothing to declare but my genius.”īack in London, things turned sour when questions about Wilde’s private life spiraled out of control. customs to begin his tour (so the story goes), he was asked if he had anything to declare. It also gave rise to one of the most famous quotes attributed to Wilde (though there’s no evidence to support the claim). in 1882 to lecture primarily on aestheticism - an artistic movement that emphasized the aesthetic value of art, or 'art for art's sake' - he encountered a hostile press but was well received by the general public. The name is synonymous with flamboyant manners and rapier wit, and a certain type of genius that dazzled society, whether it was in the clubs of London or the lecture halls of the United States. But when Oscar Wilde’s name is mentioned, it’s not only his writing that people remember. And while today he is known for his literary works, he is arguably just as famous for his legendary wit - as well as the scandal and ensuing imprisonment that upturned his life.Īs a literary figure, Wilde is perhaps best known for his play The Importance of Being Earnest, his only novel The Picture of Dorian Gray, and “The Ballad of Reading Gaol,” a poem he wrote in exile after his release from prison. During those all-too-brief years, he built a reputation that would long outlive him. The moment that art has a use, it ceases to be art.Oscar Wilde was born in 1854 and died in 1900.

Like a feeling, art can be the most noticeable thing in the world, or something we forget within a moment. Art threads through our lives in perfect daylight or peripherally. It performs movements of energy from one area to another. It’s something we can use to communicate, but it can’t shelter our feet against rocks like shoes do.

It operates, yes, but it can’t be applied. But if I think of the word “operating system” and try to forget the way this phrase is used in terms of computers, it does get very close to how art works.Īrt is useless. Maybe the funniest part of this to me is remembering how much computer operating systems are flawed, and have to reboot. I think what Jerry Saltz has to say about art being an operating system makes a lot of sense. I can’t say what it does have, but I do have to agree that it has no use.

Oscar wilde quotes about art full#

What I think Oscar Wilde meant in this quote is that art has no utility, it isn’t a hammer or a horse, it doesn’t help us accomplish tasks or work.Īs much as it is fun to rebel against this thought and make a grandiose list of the ways art is useful, I think that ultimately, he’s right.Īrt doesn’t have a ‘use’ like a tissue or a shirt or a textbook full of infographics.