Artists were initially called ‘artisans’ because ‘art’ was successful only if it displayed a mastered technique. For this reason, classical art was praised at the time for its accurate depiction of the human body, its proportions, perspective in landscapes, etc. Beauty was associated with the artist’s abilities to master a skill. Therefore, we could reasonably think that our fascination for an artwork’s beauty actually stems from a fascination for the artist who is capable of creating it. This echoes Girard’s Triangular Desire - a theory stating that desire is a tripartite relation between the Subject (the one desiring), the Object (what we desire), and the Mediator. Girard argues that we do not desire the Object directly but imitate the Mediator’s desire. For example, if Julien wants to run a marathon, Matthieu will want to run a marathon as well as an imitation of Julien’s desire. This explains the phenomenon of ‘trends’ - groups of people imitate each other and end up desiring the same thing. The desire to possess beauty could be part of this pattern described by Girard, but also perhaps the result of a variation of Girard’s theory. What if instead of desiring the Object as an imitation of the Mediator, the Subject actually desired the Mediator themself? For instance, Matthieu would want to run a marathon only because he admires Julien and wants to resemble him. The Object would then be the real Mediator of the Desire Triangle. The art buyer would then buy the work not to possess the beauty of the piece, but to materialise a tie to the artist they admire. The art would only be a mediator. Do we buy art because we think the work is beautiful, or because we admire the artist and wish we could create it ourselves?

From another standpoint, our desire to possess beauty could be less about the artist and more about ourselves. What if we bought what we consider beautiful, only to make ourselves more beautiful through it? Indeed, by purchasing art, we consolidate a tie between us and beauty