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The Picture of Dorian Gray
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The Picture of Dorian Gray

Oscar Wilde
London and New York, 1891

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Literary Classic

  • Novel
  • Decadent movement

What It’s About

Art as a Mirror of the Soul

Oscar Wilde was the model of the dandy, with his impeccable style of dressing, exquisite manners and unrivaled quick-wittedness. As the 19th century ended and the 20th began, Oscar Wilde was the toast of London’s high society. But the publication of Wilde’s only novel changed everything: In 1890, The Picture of Dorian Gray caused a minor scandal that would grow into a major one five years later, when the author was found guilty of homosexual activity. In the book, the dazzling youth Dorian wishes to stay young and handsome forever, while his portrait ages in his place. He indulges in depraved pleasures and doesn’t stop short of murder, until his conscience awakens at long last: Yet it takes a personal sacrifice for the picture and its model to switch places again. Thanks to the witty dialogue, the novel is fun to read, and the merciless cult of youth and beauty remains as topical in today’s age of social media self-promoters and reality stars as it was in Victorian England. This novel is one of Wilde’s most disturbing and profound works – humankind’s dream and nightmare simultaneously come true.

Take-Aways

  • While Oscar Wilde was a prolific writer and worked as a journalist, The Picture of Dorian Gray is his only novel. 
  • Dorian Gray wishes to stay young and beautiful forever, while his portrait ages in his place. His wish comes true: He lives the depraved existence of an aesthete and hedonist. Yet his abandonment to the vices leaves traces only in the picture. Finally, Dorian tries to destroy the ill-fated painting, killing himself in the process.
  • First published in a magazine in 1890, the novel was condemned as utterly immoral and vulgar.

About the Author

Oscar Wilde was born on October 16, 1854, in Dublin. His mother was a writer, his father a surgeon. Wilde studied classical philology in Dublin and Oxford. Already as a student he was enthusiastic about the ideals of Aestheticism, religiously putting into practice the extension of the cult of beauty to all aspects of life. He acquired a reputation for his eccentric looks, sporting long hair and exquisite clothes. In 1879, he moved to London, taught aesthetics there and quickly moved up the ranks into high society. In 1884, he married the wealthy and well-educated Constance Lloyd, who gave birth to their sons Cyril and Vyvyan in 1885 and 1886. Around this time, he began to actively pursue his homosexuality. After writing poetry, essays and fairy tales, he published his only novel in 1891, the scandalous The Picture of Dorian Gray. With the theater play Lady Windermere’s Fan, he established himself as an acclaimed author of sparkling wit and sharp intellect, in spite of Victorian reservations about his “immorality.” Wilde consolidated his reputation in the years following with the plays A Woman of No Importance, An Ideal Husband, and The Importance of Being Earnest. Then he was undone by his long-term relationship with the young snob Lord Alfred Douglas. Wilde was sentenced to a two-year prison term on the grounds of sodomy and gross indecency. While in jail he wrote De Profundis, a two-part letter to Douglas about their relationship and its aftereffects. He lived his last years in relative poverty on the European continent, supported by friends. Before his death in Paris on November 30, 1900, he published only The Ballad of Reading Gaol, a long poem about the experience of his imprisonment.

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