Full Idea
By beauty in art one always understands imitation of happiness.
Gist of Idea
Beauty in art is the imitation of happiness
Source
Friedrich Nietzsche (Dawn (Daybreak) [1881], 433)
Book Reference
Nietzsche,Friedrich: 'Dawn (Daybreak) (v 5)', ed/tr. Smith, Brittain [Stanford 2011], p.225
A Reaction
I'm not sure how one goes about imitating happiness. One can replicate things that make us happy, like a nice landscape. But some beauty in art is also novel, and produces a new sort of happiness. Kandinsky.