Decadence

Decadence is a term used to describe a perceived decline in moral, cultural, or artistic standards, often associated with excess, luxury, sensualism, and a sense of artificiality or ornamentation. It can refer to a period, a sensibility, or a body of work that treats decline as a theme or aesthetic.

Rooted in Latin decadere (to fall), the concept gained prominence in 19th-century Europe. The French décadence and the fin de siècle mood gave rise to a self-conscious movement—often linked to writers such as Charles Baudelaire, Joris-Karl Huysmans, Stéphane Mallarmé, and later Oscar Wilde and others—who pursued art for its own sake, disdaining bourgeois norms. The movement emphasized beauty, transgression, and ritual, often courting taboo subjects and extravagant style.

In literature and art, decadence is marked by lush imagery, irony, and a preoccupation with decay, illness, eroticism, and artificiality. It is sometimes framed as a critique of modernity and progress, but also as an aesthetic project that seeks to elevate sensation and form above conventional morals.

In contemporary use, decadence can describe cultural trends that appear morally or culturally decadent, but scholars distinguish it as a critical label rather than a precise diagnosis; discussions include the relationship between decadence and consumerism, moral relativism, or cultural entropy. It remains a contested category, with some praising its inventive potential and others denouncing it as decadence.