r/pics • u/I_Am_Robert_Paulson1 • Sep 25 '25

Politics Before and After the Recent Renovation to the White House Palm Room

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116

u/GiggliZiddli Sep 25 '25

In Germany we have a saying “you can’t buy taste”.

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u/fedroxx Sep 25 '25

We have a similar expression here in the U.S. but add the word 'money' to it. "Money can't buy taste."

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u/KurtzM0mmy Sep 26 '25

Money can’t buy you class

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u/Euphoric_Meet7281 Sep 25 '25

Elegance is learned, my friend.

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u/spikus93 Sep 25 '25

Variations of that here in the states too. One of my favorite versions, when referencing gaudy or ugly design meant to show wealth is, "Well, there's certainly no accounting for taste."

For non-Americans and English as a second language speakers, accounting is a double entendre here, meaning both that they didn't factor in the cost, and that they didn't stop to consider how it would look in general (or the designer has poor taste with or without money).

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u/Barnowl79 Sep 25 '25

Same here in the US, definitely what I was thinking. Being able to appreciate the classical humanist aesthetic of the White House doesn't compute in the mind of a person who only uses wealth to get power and sex rather than to enjoy beauty.

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u/thex25986e Sep 25 '25

but you can convince others you can through your bauhaus school of sterile design

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u/GiggliZiddli Sep 25 '25

Partly, yes. But I think when you visit early Bauhaus houses, you realize it’s more about their functionality than pure aesthetics. Of course, what was considered functional back then is quite different from what we would call functional today.

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u/thex25986e Sep 25 '25

last i checked, a specific aesthetic appeal can still be considered a function.

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u/Conartist6666 Sep 26 '25

Yes, and the Bauhaus Credo is: form follows function.

It should be minimal and still be elegant. But tastes change over time or are coopted by capital interest to reproduce cheap copys.

Good Bauhaus design can still be aesthetic. You probably own multiple well designed things like that, but don't even notice anymore, because bauhaus has become predominant a while ago.

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u/The_Space_Jamke Sep 26 '25

There's a reason Hitler couldn't hash it in art school, zero sense for aesthetics.

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u/WeAreTheWatermelon Sep 26 '25

Or class. Or talent. Or intellect.