Art for art's sake Art for art's sake "Art for art's sake" is the usual English rendering of a French slogan from the early 19th century, "l'art pour l'art", and expresses a philosophy that the intrinsic value of art, and the only "true" art, is divorced from any didactic, moral, or utilitarian function. Such works are sometimes described as "autotelic", from the Greek "autoteles", "complete in itself", a concept that has been expanded to embrace "inner-directed" or "self-motivated" human beings. The term is sometimes used commercially. A Latin version of this phrase ("ARS GRATIA ARTIS") is used as a motto by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and appears
Dei Gratia Regina 2008 commemorating the 400th anniversary of Quebec, and the 2012 two dollar coin commemorating the War of 1812. Decimal coins of Newfoundland, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia issued before they joined Canada also included some variation of the phrase "Dei Gratia Regina or Dei Gratia Rex. Cyprus, while under British rule, included the phrase "Dei Gratia Rex (or Regina)" in some form on its coins until 1952. It was dropped after Queen Elizabeth ascended the throne in 1952, when the language of the legend was changed from Latin to English. The Bailiwick of Jersey included the phrase "Dei Gratia Rex