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Art, like Nature, has her monsters, things of bestial shape and with hideous voices.
Oscar Wilde
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Interpretation

What this quote means

Art can reflect both beauty and ugliness, showcasing the darker aspects of existence.

In this quote, Oscar Wilde suggests that art, much like nature, contains elements that are terrifying or monstrous. These 'monsters' represent the darker sides of life and creativity that can be unsettling yet serve a purpose in revealing truth, evoking emotion, and challenging perceptions in the realm of artistic expression.

Themes

ArtNatureMonstersCreativityExpression

In practice

Example use cases

In a discussion on the complexities of artistic expression at a gallery.

More from Oscar Wilde

Everything is dangerous, my dear fellow. If it wasn't so, life wouldn't be worth living.
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London is too full of fogs and serious people. Whether the fogs produce the serious people, or whether the serious people produce the fogs, I don't know.
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When one has never heard a man's name in the course of one's life, it speaks volumes for him; he must be quite respectable.
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Men always want to be a woman's first love - women like to be a man's last romance.
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A truth ceases to be true when more than one person believes in it.
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His morality is all sympathy, just what morality should be
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