Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray is a masterful treatise on beauty, vanity and the corruption of the soul.

The Picture of Dorian Gray explores how purity can easily be corrupted under depraved influences, and confronts society’s obsession with beauty and image. Wilde offers an elaborate critique on aestheticism, seen in his use of the portrait as a medium to challenge the definition of beauty, by exploring the distinction between outer and inner beauty. He also comments on the narcissistic nature of Hedonism revealing to us the pain living with this ideology brings later down the line.

Wilde also adds a gendered layer to his discussion on vanity, seen for example, in Henry’s remarks on women and art:

“My dear boy, no woman is a genius. Women are the decorative sex [...] They are charmingly artificial, but they have no sense of art.’

To me Wilde clearly alludes to the gendered distinction in 19th Century art between women being seen as decorative and men as creative. And yet in the novel, it’s Dorian Gray that is obsessed with external appearances, not only of himself but also of others. Seen for example in his sudden change of feelings towards Sybill when she breaks through the illusion of her acting.

The Picture of Dorian Gray is an intricate and reflective text on both the nature of art and humanity. It is a timeless classic that I highly recommend reading.