--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: What is art? Prostitution." description: "\"What is art? Prostitution.\" — Charles Baudelaire" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b63/charles-baudelaire-473_art_what-is-art-prostitution-2485308_2485308.jpg" --- # What is art? Prostitution. ![“What is art? Prostitution.” quote by Charles Baudelaire](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b63/charles-baudelaire-473_art_what-is-art-prostitution-2485308_2485308.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b63/charles-baudelaire-473_art_what-is-art-prostitution-2485308_2485308.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b63/charles-baudelaire-473_art_what-is-art-prostitution-2485308_2485308.jpg) > “What is art? Prostitution.” [Charles Baudelaire](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-baudelaire/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Art is equated with prostitution, suggesting it trades intimacy for exploitation. **In simple terms:** Art can be seen as a transaction of intimacy. Key Takeaway Critically examine the value of art. Themes art exploitation society morality Mood provocative analytical Type philosophical critical When to use this quote - gallery curation - artist contracts - media criticism - educational curricula Key Concepts aesthetic theory capitalism Questions to Reflect On - Is art always a commodity? - When does artistic expression become exploitation? A Different Perspective Not all art is exploitative; context matters. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Art](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/art/) [Art Prostitution](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/art-prostitution-906988/) [Artist](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/artist/) [Prostitution](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/prostitution/) ## Related quotes > [Love is a taste for prostitution. In fact, there is no noble pleasure that cannot be reduced to Prostitution.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-baudelaire/love-is-a-taste-for-prostitution-in-fact-there-is-no-noble-pleasure/) [Charles Baudelaire](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-baudelaire/) > [What men call love is a very small, restricted, feeble thing compared with this ineffable orgy, this divine prostitution of the soul giving itself…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-baudelaire/what-men-call-love-is-a-very-small-restricted-feeble-thing-compared/) [Charles Baudelaire](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-baudelaire/) > [The man who is unable to people his solitude is equally unable to be alone in a bustling crowd. The poet enjoys the incomparable…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-baudelaire/the-man-who-is-unable-to-people-his-solitude-is-equally-unable-to-be/) [Charles Baudelaire](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-baudelaire/) > [Who would dare assign to art the sterile function of imitating nature?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-baudelaire/who-would-dare-assign-to-art-the-sterile-function-of-imitating-nature/) [Charles Baudelaire](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-baudelaire/) > [To labor in the arts for any reason other than love is prostitution.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steven-pressfield/to-labor-in-the-arts-for-any-reason-other-than-love-is-prostitution/) [Steven Pressfield](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steven-pressfield/) > [I've only ever met one woman who actually was a prostitute of her own free will. She didn't have a pimp. She could pick…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gloria-steinem/i-ve-only-ever-met-one-woman-who-actually-was-a-prostitute-of-her-own/) [Gloria Steinem](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gloria-steinem/) > [“Though it sounds vulgar, selling something that should be a gift is precisely what prostitution is.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-hyde-stevens/though-it-sounds-vulgar-selling-something-that-should-be-a-gift-is/) [Elizabeth Hyde Stevens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-hyde-stevens/) > [Here is my personal opinion about prostitution. If men knew how to do it, they wouldn't have to pay for it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/roseanne-barr/here-is-my-personal-opinion-about-prostitution-if-men-knew-how-to-do/) [Roseanne Barr](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/roseanne-barr/) > [Prostitution is criminal, and bad things happen because it's run illegally by dirt-bags who are criminals. If it's legal, then the girls could have…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jesse-ventura/prostitution-is-criminal-and-bad-things-happen-because-it-s-run/) [Jesse Ventura](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jesse-ventura/) > [Whether our reformers admit it or not, the economic and social inferiority of women is responsible for prostitution.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/emma-goldman/whether-our-reformers-admit-it-or-not-the-economic-and-social/) [Emma Goldman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/emma-goldman/) > [The workman cut to the left, still laying on his horn, and roared around the drunkenly weaving limousine. He invited the driver of the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-king/the-workman-cut-to-the-left-still-laying-on-his-horn-and-roared/) [Stephen King](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-king/) > [Prostitution presents a moral, economic and social problem that cannot be resolved juridically.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/federica-montseny/prostitution-presents-a-moral-economic-and-social-problem-that-cannot/) [Federica Montseny](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/federica-montseny/) > [The fight against syphilis demands a fight against prostitution, against prejudices, old habits, against previous conceptions, general views among them not least the false…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/adolf-hitler/the-fight-against-syphilis-demands-a-fight-against-prostitution/) [Adolf Hitler](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/adolf-hitler/) > [Well this is aptly called a junket, for both of us. I have never been to a house of prostitution, but I understand that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dustin-hoffman/well-this-is-aptly-called-a-junket-for-both-of-us-i-have-never-been/) [Dustin Hoffman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dustin-hoffman/) > [Most celebrated men live in a condition of prostitution.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-augustin-sainte-beuve/most-celebrated-men-live-in-a-condition-of-prostitution/) [Charles Augustin Sainte-Beuve](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-augustin-sainte-beuve/) ## More by Charles Baudelaire > [Who would dare assign to art the sterile function of imitating nature?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-baudelaire/who-would-dare-assign-to-art-the-sterile-function-of-imitating-nature/) [Charles Baudelaire](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-baudelaire/) > [“The greatest trick the Devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn’t exist”—Charles Baudelaire “The second greatest trick the Devil ever pulled was…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-baudelaire/the-greatest-trick-the-devil-ever-pulled-was-convincing-the-world-he/) [Charles Baudelaire](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-baudelaire/) > [“This life is a hospital in which each patient is possessed by the desire to change beds. 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Bitter is the knowledge gained in travelling.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-baudelaire/amer-savoir-celui-qu-on-tire-du-voyage-bitter-is-the-knowledge-gained/) [Charles Baudelaire](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-baudelaire/) > [“Car je cherche le vide, el le noir, el le nu!”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-baudelaire/car-je-cherche-le-vide-el-le-noir-el-le-nu/) [Charles Baudelaire](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-baudelaire/) > [“I can barely conceive a type of beauty in which there is no melancholy.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-baudelaire/i-can-barely-conceive-a-type-of-beauty-in-which-there-is-no-melancholy/) [Charles Baudelaire](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-baudelaire/) > [The vices of man, as full of horror as one might suppose them to be, contain the proof (if in nothing else but their…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-baudelaire/the-vices-of-man-as-full-of-horror-as-one-might-suppose-them-to-be/) [Charles Baudelaire](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-baudelaire/) > [Multitude, solitude: equal and interchangeable terms for the active and prolific poet.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-baudelaire/multitude-solitude-equal-and-interchangeable-terms-for-the-active-and/) [Charles Baudelaire](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-baudelaire/) > [Any healthy man can go without food for two days - but not without poetry.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-baudelaire/any-healthy-man-can-go-without-food-for-two-days-but-not-without/) [Charles Baudelaire](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-baudelaire/) > [Drink wine, drink poetry, drink virtue.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-baudelaire/drink-wine-drink-poetry-drink-virtue/) [Charles Baudelaire](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-baudelaire/) > [Man loves man so much that when he flees the city, it is still to seek the crowd, that is, to rebuild the city…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-baudelaire/man-loves-man-so-much-that-when-he-flees-the-city-it-is-still-to-seek/) [Charles Baudelaire](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-baudelaire/) > [“—But why is she weeping? She, the perfect beauty, Who could put at her feet the conquered human race, What secret malady gnaws at…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-baudelaire/but-why-is-she-weeping-she-the-perfect-beauty-who-could-put-at-her/) [Charles Baudelaire](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-baudelaire/) [Explore all 454 Charles Baudelaire quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-baudelaire/) ## More Art quotes > [True works of art contain their own theory and give us the measurement according to which we should judge them.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/johann-wolfgang-von-goethe/true-works-of-art-contain-their-own-theory-and-give-us-the/) [Johann Wolfgang von Goethe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/johann-wolfgang-von-goethe/) > [Before Noah, men having only water to drink, could not find the truth. 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