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
Ars Amatoria college courses on Latin literature. It is possible that Edmond Rostand's fictionalized portrayal of Cyrano de Bergerac makes an allusion to the "Ars amatoria": the theme of the erotic and seductive power of poetry is highly suggestive of Ovid's poem, and Bergerac's nose, a distinguishing feature invented by Rostand, calls to mind Ovid's cognomen, Naso (from "nasus", 'large-nosed'). Ars Amatoria The Ars amatoria () is an instructional elegy series in three books by the ancient Roman poet Ovid. It was written in 2 CE. Book one of "Ars amatoria" was written to show a man how to find a woman.