Aestheticism & Decadence

The Aesthetic Movement was born in universities and intellectual circles in the second half of 19th century. Starting in France with Gautier, it reflected the artist's gripes with materialism and the bourgeoisie's fixation with a strict moral code, along with an interest in renewing art. Consequently, French artists broke from the political and social scene to escape in the 'aesthetic' (bohémien) lifestyle of isolation: “Art for Art's Sake”, in cultivation of art and beauty and against the monotony and vulgarity of bourgeois life.