"Beauty is a form of genius — is higher, indeed, than genius, as it needs no explanation." — Oscar Wilde

Wilde and Aestheticism

Aestheticism is a movement distilled to "art for art's sake," existing without specific purpose or utility. For many, stripping away an object's didactic or political function equates to uselessness. To me, it's proof of the opposite.

Oscar Wilde is considered the father of the Aestheticism movement and is celebrated for his focus on creating art purely for its beauty. The inability to judge art as true or false, right or wrong, good or bad is central to developing an artistic framework based on personal opinions and values. It's a foolproof approach justified solely by the inherent value of art's existence.

Wilde saw life itself as a work of art and embraced a controversial and ethical nonchalance that valued living authentically over conforming to societal rules that stifled his creative freedom.

"Beauty, real beauty, ends where an intellectual expression begins." — Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray

By no means a perfect human, Wilde excelled in being a compelling one. And if the meaning of life is to create art out of the journey then Wilde, a playwright, poet, and writer, was wildly successful.

Beauty Lives in Everything

The consequences of a utility-focused society stretch beyond mere productivity; they risk dulling our sense of what makes life meaningful. Journalist Betsy Reed suggests that this mindset tempts us to overlook the very things that make life worth living.

"Potential for art is everywhere around us, in our homes and public buildings, in the detail of the way we choose to live our lives." — Betsy Reed, The Guardian

In this way, nature's design is perfect.

The unique crystalline structure of a snowflake serves no practical purpose, yet it exists due to physics—contributing an aesthetic meaning to its environment.

Likewise, the ombre colors of the northern lights result from gaseous particles colliding, yet people leave home to experience this phenomenon in real time. Human beings, regardless of intent, are storytellers. We create emotion from inanimate objects.

That’s our superpower: conceiving meaning out of beauty.

"There is a kind of supernatural beauty in these mountainous prospects which charms both the senses and the minds into a forgetfulness of oneself and of everything in the world." — Jean Jacques Rousseau

Beauty is there—stop and listen.

Plato & The Virtue of Beauty

The ideals of beauty reach far beyond the Enlightenment or aristocratic standards, challenging the notion that beauty is merely a byproduct of capitalism and consumerism aimed at filling a void.

Beauty is innate.

We recognize it instinctively, yet we're unable to explain why. That's because it resonates with something deeper within us.

According to Platonic philosophy, the "Three Higher Forms" represent essential ideals that Plato saw as vital to understanding reality and existence.

To him, beauty as an ideal exists beyond the physical world.

As such, art and beauty are not subjective experiences; they reflect a deeper, universal truth.

"The objects that are seen are not real, but only appear to be; the things that are unseen are real." — Plato, Phaedo

In his Theory of Forms, Plato presents beauty as an objective and universal reality beyond physical representations. Beauty, as a perfect form, is an objective truth rather than a subjective experience, proven by the desire to attain it. It exists in a higher, unseen realm.

Beauty as Goodness

Artists, such as Oscar Wilde, aspire to represent this ideal beauty in their work.

"We have lost the abstract sense of beauty." — Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray

Beautiful art not only pleases the senses but elevates the soul, encouraging moral reflection and growth.

In The Republic, Plato discusses art as mimesis, or imitation, of the physical world.

We’ve all heard the phrase "life imitates art."

To Plato, the physical world itself is a copy of the Ideal Forms—a perfection we can contemplate but never fully attain, only replicate.

Thus, art’s role is to access this higher truth and represent it in its essential form: beauty.

In On Beauty and Being Just, Elaine Scarry explores how beauty inspires reproduction. When we encounter beauty, there is an innate desire to copy or preserve it—often through artistic creation.

Beauty elicits creativity, urging us to keep it alive by making more of it, leading to the continuity of the aesthetic and moral world.

"For he who has eyes to see and ears to hear perceives that there is a perfect beauty existing, and it is that which he follows and loves." — Plato, Phaedrus

According to Plato, art that embodies truth, beauty, and goodness holds an enduring, timeless value. It enriches our human experience, inviting connection and deeper understanding.

Don’t strive to make it profound; simply make it beautiful.