Aestheticism, or “the Aesthetic Movement”, was a European phenomenon during the latetr nineteenth century that had its chief philosophical headquarters in France.
In defiance against the indifference or hostility of their society to any art that did not inculcate current utilitarian and social values, French writers developed the doctrine that art is the supreme value among the works of man because it is self-sufficient and has no aim beyond its own perfection: the end of a work of art is simply to exist, and to be beautiful. A rallying cry of Aestheticism became the phrase Tart pour I’art”-art for art’s sake.