Art is eternal. Beauty is pure pleasure. Genius in creation and taste in appreciation are one.—One is accustomed to encounter such time-honored aesthetic views and one takes them often without questioning whether they adequately honor time. On the following pages a different approach to art will be outlined; on its horizon these views and many others which need not be cited now, will appear as false. Some hallowed names can be invoked as authority for them. So much the worse. Amicus Plato sed magis amica Veritas.