# Perversion of Art by Professionalism and Gain in What Is Art?

> Theme guide for What Is Art? by Leo Tolstoy.

Tolstoy argues that when artists become professionals motivated by remuneration, art loses its sincerity and becomes a trade, producing counterfeit works that corrupt rather than elevate society.

## Where it surfaces

- [The Author’s Preface](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/what_is_art_se/chapters/the-author-s-preface): Tolstoy's compromise with the censor for publication illustrates how institutional and professional pressures can distort artistic integrity.
- [I](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/what_is_art_se/chapters/i): Tolstoy criticizes the immense labor and resources spent on art, the stunting of human lives through specialized training, and the cruelty of conductors, suggesting art has been perverted by professional demands and financial interests.
- [Chapter II](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/what_is_art_se/chapters/ii): He highlights how art is supported by the unwilling labor of the poor and questions whether it justifies such sacrifices.
- [IV](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/what_is_art_se/chapters/iv): He criticizes how art is defined to justify the productions that please a certain class, rather than seeking a true, universal definition.
- [Chapter VI: The Religious Basis of Art and Its Decline](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/what_is_art_se/chapters/vi): Tolstoy implies that the upper classes, lacking a religious guide, perverted art by using it for personal enjoyment and to maintain their social position.
- [IX](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/what_is_art_se/chapters/ix): Tolstoy argues that upper-class art, driven by the pursuit of enjoyment rather than religious perception, has become artificial, brain-spun, and deprived of true artistic value.
- [Chapter X](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/what_is_art_se/chapters/x): The claim that art can be good yet incomprehensible leads to perverted, self-serving art by a small circle.
- [The Substitution of Counterfeits for Art](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/what_is_art_se/chapters/xi): Tolstoy argues that upper-class art arises not from inner impulse but from the demand for amusement and payment, leading to counterfeits.
- [XII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/what_is_art_se/chapters/xii): Tolstoy argues that professionalization and remuneration destroy the sincerity of art, leading to counterfeits.
- [Chapter XIII: Wagner and the Counterfeit of Art](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/what_is_art_se/chapters/xiii): Wagner's success is attributed to his exceptional position with royal resources, allowing him to command all methods of counterfeiting art for commercial and social acclaim.
- [XIV](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/what_is_art_se/chapters/xiv): The vast number of manufactured works produced for profit and status perverts taste and makes it difficult to recognize real art.
- [XV](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/what_is_art_se/chapters/xv): Tolstoy contrasts the sincere, infectious peasant art with upper-class art, which is produced for personal gain or vanity and therefore lacks sincerity, the most important condition for true art.
- [XVII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/what_is_art_se/chapters/xvii): Tolstoy argues that professional artists produce counterfeit art for profit, wasting human lives and labor, and that this perversion harms society.
- [XIX](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/what_is_art_se/chapters/xix): He argues that professional artists paid for their work produce counterfeit art, and that security of maintenance is harmful to true artistic productiveness.
- [XX: The Conclusion](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/what_is_art_se/chapters/xx-the-conclusion): Tolstoy condemns the false path of art and science that serves the privileged classes rather than the common good.
- [I](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/what_is_art_se/chapters/i): The showman's commercial display of the woman as a spectacle for a miserable crowd suggests art reduced to a commodity.
- [III](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/what_is_art_se/chapters/iii): Tolstoy uses Wagner's opera as an example of art that is incomprehensible and driven by professional ambition rather than genuine emotional expression.
- [Endnotes](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/what_is_art_se/chapters/endnotes): Notes on censorship and the distortion of Tolstoy's critiques of luxury and social order reflect the perversion of art by external interests.

## Links

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