Original artwork, not a still
The Decay of Lying ‧ 1889
Nobody of any real culture, for instance, ever talks nowadays about the beauty of sunset. Sunsets are quite old fashioned…. To admire them is a distinct sign of provincialism of temperament. Upon the other hand they go on.
Behind the line
What it means
Our interpretation.
With dry irony, the speaker mocks fashionable sophistication: cultured people supposedly no longer praise sunsets, and admiring them marks a provincial temperament. The final line undercuts the snobbery, since sunsets keep happening regardless of taste. The joke targets fashion's fickleness more than nature's beauty.
Context reviewed
