The Aesthetic Movement began to prevail in late 19th-century Britain from about 1818 to 1901. The theory of “art for art's sake'  was first put forward by the French poet Theophile Gautier. Its main characteristics are: suggestion rather than statement, sensuality, massive use of symbols, and synesthetic effects—correspondence between words, colors and music. The aesthetes believed that art did not have any didactic purpose and it need only to be beautiful. The two most important representatives are Walt Pater and Oscar Wilde.