“Oscar Wilde spoke of the work of art as having ‘and independent life of its own’ which may ‘deliver a message far other than that which was put in its lips to say,’” (Watson 30).
And here I go again, back to the concept of “art for art’s sake.” Of course art does belong to the artist who creates it. However, once the art has been released to the public, it also belongs to its audience. People will judge it, or critique it, whether or not it was meant to be up for their interpretations. The art will mean something to the artist, its creator, for being an artist, he or she has put a part of themselves into the work. Therefore, what the art means to the artist is what it means, what the artist intended it to mean. When brought into the public eye, though, an audience can draw whatever kinds of conclusions about the meaning of a particular piece, and perhaps even find within it something of greater depth than even the artist might have intended. It’s all just a matter of opinion; there is usually no right answer.