There’s something truly magical about human creativity. But is there a word for someone who appreciates art in particular?
In this article, we’ve provided a list of useful terms and phrases that describe such a person.
Moreover, we’ll discuss three of the most interesting terms from our list in detail.
Words for Someone Who Appreciates Art
- Aesthete
- Dilettante
- Culture vulture
- Art lover
- Arts connoisseur
- Cultured
- Art aficionado
- Art devotee
- Art buff
- Art enthusiast
- Art cognoscente
KEY TAKEAWAYS
- An “aesthete” is someone with a keen eye for anything beautiful, especially in art.
- A “dilettante” appreciates art superficially but knows very little about it in reality.
- The term “culture vulture” can describe an avid lover of art or a person who appropriates other people’s cultures for purely aesthetic reasons.
Stick around! In the next section, we’ll discuss our top three terms for a person who appreciates art in more detail.
Moreover, we’ll show you some helpful example sentences, including each of our choices.
Aesthete
According to Merriam-Webster, an “aesthete” is “one having or affecting sensitivity to the beautiful, especially in art.”
Therefore, this is a good word for someone who takes note of the physical aesthetics of things around them. In particular, an “aesthete” is a person who loves art.
The term “aesthete” comes from the combination of “aesthetic” and “athlete.” After all, an athlete is someone trained and skilled in athletics or sports. Similarly, an “aesthete” has a trained eye for beauty and is highly attuned to the sensory world.
Therefore, let’s see a couple of example sentences making use of the term “aesthete”:
I didn’t think an aesthete like you would deem anything beautiful about such a gray, industrial city.
The local aesthete was the first to attend this month’s exhibition.
Dilettante
The word “dilettante” has a plethora of potential definitions.
After all, Merriam-Webster states that a rather dated definition of “dilettante” is “an admirer or lover of the arts.”
However, a more modern definition of this term is “a person having a superficial interest in an art or a branch of knowledge.”
Therefore, it would appear that “dilettante” has obtained some moderately negative connotations over the years.
It once referred to a person with an amateur interest in art. However, it is now a good word to describe someone who enjoys arts and crafts in theory but has no real skill or knowledge in an artistic area.
Calling someone a “dilettante” would be considered rather derisive these days. Essentially, you are saying that the other person is pretending to be more interested in art than they really are.
Have a look at how we’ve used this phrase in some example sentences:
When we first met, I thought you were nothing more than a common dilettante, visiting museums so you could upload pixelated images of precious art onto your Instagram page.
I’ll admit, I’m a bit of a dilettante when it comes to art and music; I like it all fine, but I haven’t the foggiest what any of it means.
Culture Vulture
“Culture vulture” is a very interesting and multifaceted phrase. The Cambridge Dictionary defines a “culture vulture” as “someone who is very interested in music, art, theatre, etc.”
However, it appears that most English dictionaries have not yet caught on to the fact that “culture vulture” carries a new meaning on the internet.
The Urban Dictionary defines a “culture vulture” as “a person or an organization making a profit using [dishonorable] practices from a culture they do not care for” and “someone who steals traits, language and/or fashion from another ethnic or social group in order to create their own identity.”
This is an interesting phrase to learn since people still use it in a positive manner based on its old definition.
The classic definition creates an image of a person who flocks to art and joyfully picks away at anything artistic they can find.
However, in modern times, this phrase creates a new image of a person scavenging from other people’s cultures for purely aesthetic reasons. Thus, they care about their image but don’t appreciate the history behind certain art, music, or fashion.
Let’s see how you can use this phrase in a sentence.
First, we will use “culture vulture” as a positive sentiment:
This is the perfect city for a culture vulture – there’s a theatre here and a bar with live music on every other street corner.
Next, let’s see the more modern understanding of this phrase in context:
Be sure to get a copyright on all of your tracks before the corporate culture vultures start flocking in to take them.