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 it was shortened to read "Dei Gratia Regina" and from 1965 onwards, it was abbreviated on all coins to the current phrase of "D. G. Regina". Some commemorative coins issued under Queen Elizabeth have not included the phrase "Dei Gratia Regina" or an abbreviation. These include coins for the 1976 Montreal Olympics, 25 cent coins for the 2010 Vancouver Olympics, (but not the dollar coin issued for the same games), the 2001 10 cent coin commemorating volunteers, the 1982 dollar coin commemorating the patriation of the constitution, the 1984 Jacques Cartier commemorative dollar coin, the two dollar coin issued in