Henry Van de Velde and Oscar Wilde make an interesting pair as they examine their two views on art, philosophy, and society as a whole. Oscar Wilde was the founder of the aesthetic art movement, in which he believed that art could simply be appreciated for its own sake and should be used to beautify any environment in which people find themselves. His writings on aesthetics were very influential and influenced the whole of England to be interested in things that were more visually pleasing simply because they were visually pleasing. Additionally, he was a rather influential writer overall, both as a critic, social commentator, and writer of fiction. He had very deep opinions about the way the world was at that time and how it should be improved over time. On the other hand, Van de Velde was an artist in a more traditional sense than Wilde. Van de Velde was an artist known for his furniture and home decorations. He was also very well known for his architectural abilities and the incredible buildings he designed during his life. He believed that the visual quality and appeal of an object was very important. He applied this to his furniture and interior works as well as the buildings he designed. This application of visual attraction to everyday applied arts ultimately earned him the label of father of the Art Nouveau ideology and movement. He felt that this movement was a necessary break from traditional design methods and ideas and that these methods and ideologies should progress in the future. (Chipp 56) Overall, Wilde and Van de Velde have far more in common than differences from each other. Both Wilde and Van de Velde are very focused on the power and beauty of lines and the arrangement of curves in their designs. He later worked with the Bauhaus school, following these design principles. This put him at odds with most Art Nouveau artists who, much like Wilde with his aestheticism, believed that inspiration for such rooms and environments intended to improve people's lives should be drawn from nature. Overall, these two men shared a common goal: to improve people's lives. people live by bringing beauty into everyday life and focusing on the visual quality of a room before anything else. Although they had different methods of achieving this and had other differences here and there, they are actually quite similar, being mainly different from each other in the sense that Wilde primarily wrote about his points of view and Van de Velde did things to help people achieve the goal. environment in which he thought they should live.