Art critic Matthew Collings hosts the third episode of his six-part Channel 4 series This Is Modern Art, turning to a question that sounds simple and isn't: does art still have to be beautiful? He visits working artists and looks at their paintings, sculptures, and installations to test whether the old idea of art as decoration has survived into the contemporary gallery world, or whether it has been replaced by something more concerned with ideas, politics, and process. Collings talks with the artists themselves about why they make what they make, some using their work to address subjects like inequality and personal experience, others more interested in materials and technique for their own sake. The episode also touches on the business side of the art world, gallery owners and dealers among the voices weighing in on what actually gets shown and sold. Collings keeps his own dry, skeptical commentary running throughout, treating the beauty question as a live argument rather than a settled one.