The Benefitness Of Art In The Picture Of Dorian Gray By Oscar Wilde

A long debated argument has been over the subject of art and whether or not it holds any valid use. The argument even dates back to 1890 as seen in a letter response to a young fan of Oscar Wilde 's novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray; where Wilde explains his famous words "All art is quite useless." This argument contends that art itself is only meant to be beautiful, and consequently be of no use. More contemporary arguments on the topic regard the useful applications of art in the educational realm. Many believe that art courses strewn into a student’s schedule produces a better, more well rounded education and individual as a whole. The reality is, that art does fill a useful purpose, artists create art with value, and its beholders receive

Arguing that a flower is useless in the same way, in how it blossoms for its own joy. All we gain from it is nothing but a moment of joy to witness its blooming. Wilde stands behind the belief that art is useless because the art itself serves no purpose but to be beautiful. Furthermore, that any value we give it is due to “misuse” of the art. Wilde’s notion that art’s only purpose is to be beautiful, and therefore is useless can be true, but this pertains to select pieces of art. This requires, however, that the artist and beholder are in rare agreement that the artwork created is meant only to be beautiful, for if one side were to disagree then art gains use. If the artist creates the work to have meaning other than beauty then it is useful. If the beholder sees meaning in a work that was meant only to be beautiful then it is useful, but this is what Wilde refers to as “misuse” of the art. There however, cannot be a misuse of artwork. Because once artwork is released to the masses it no longer belongs to the artist, philosophically speaking, of course, as the artist still retains physical ownership rights. The nature of art is that is open to interpretation, hence the phrase “beauty is in the eye of the beholder”. This means that the beholders will interpret art in their own unique way, and it is no longer the artist’s idea. The artist’s idea and the beholders may in fact align, but they each will still be their own