Decadence Movement and Yellow

Many of The King in Yellow's themes tie to the Decadence Movement. The movement, spawned in France with the (argued) unintended influence of Edgar Allen Poe, can be summarized as art for art's sake. Why have a purpose? Why have a meaning? Literature, paintings, all forms were expressed for the sake of expression. Yet, there were themes that tied the works, such as the color yellow. Many art pieces featured golden colors and many aspects of the movement were catelogued and promoted in The Yellow Book. The movement can also be seen as a rejection of the previous generation's sense of morality. But in rejecting the previous standards and adopting a yellow icon, the movement became a symbol of its own. Ironically, a movement about not having a meaning, had a meaning. In a satirical sense we can see that in trying to reject the system, a system is made and that kind of horrifying satire is carried over to The King in Yellow. 

It's like Robert Chambers is exposing what happened to the movement. It died after its founders died or moved on. Not the lasting effect they were hoping for. Chambers is saying "Here's the corpse of you're movement, of you're god." Or "This is what came of your efforts." I'm not sure if Chambers is trying to mock the movement or praise it. Something to do more research on.

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