"There are neither good nor bad subjects. From the point of view of pure Art, you could almost establish it as an axiom that the subject is irrelevant, style itself being an absolute manner of seeing things"

In this quote, Gustave Flaubert is revealing his belief that there are no naturally good or bad subjects in art. He argues that from a simply artistic viewpoint, the subject of a piece is not important. Instead, what really matters is the design in which the topic is represented. Flaubert suggests that design is an essential way of perceiving and interpreting the world, and it is this distinct perspective that makes an artwork truly extraordinary. Simply put, the subject itself is irrelevant as long as the artist's style has the ability to record the essence of the subject in a powerful and meaningful way.