Decadence, usually used to mean luxurious, indulgent, or rich, comes from the French term meaning “decay,” and it is often used to discuss the decline of the morals or culture of a civilization. The Decadent movement, in literature and fine art, occurred in the late 19th century. Though the Decadent movement is often linked specifically to France, with the term originating in the 18th-century philosopher Montesquieu’s analysis of the decline of ancient Rome, it influenced writing and art across Western Europe, including Britain, Spain, Italy, and Germany.

The movement featured an aesthetic of excess, grandeur, and sensuality, reveling in the supposed decline of morality through sacrificing rationality and pragmatism for human fantasy and pleasure. Decadent writers often transgressed boundaries set by society on what is allowed for pleasure, including elements of sexuality that would have been considered “deviant.” Notable Decadent writers include Charles Baudelaire (1821-1867), Arthur Rimbaud (1854-1891), Oscar Wilde (1854-1900), and Gabriele D'Annunzio (1863-1938). Decadent writers frequently promoted the idea of “art for art’s sake,” denying that their art should serve any wider ethical or political purpose.

Venus in Furs is firmly rooted in the Decadent movement by many characteristics, such as the frequent allusions to Rome, Greece, and the Renaissance; the attention to details of color, cloth, and art; and the focus of the work on expressions of sexuality that were controversial at the time.