The Picture of Dorian Gray Preface

"To reveal art and conceal the artist is art's aim" (Wilde 1); if the art is beautiful, and yet the artist must be hidden, does that mean that the artist is ugly? Perhaps not physically, but morally ugly. Wilde describes these people as "those who find ugly meanings in beautiful things are corrupt without being charming" (1).An interesting point he makes is about the nineteenth century dislike of realism. Realism, in the subject of art,means how a subject appears to be in real life with no interpretation. Could this dislike stem from the disparity between a person's image and their actual being? He goes on to say that this kind of morality can be used in art, or the "perfect use [art] of an imperfect medium [morality]"(1).Nearing the end of the preface, Wilde writes a small introduction to his book: "All art is at once surface and symbol./Those who go beneath the surface do so at their peril./ Those who read the symbol do so at their peril."(2). He is referring to the main character and subject of the painting in question. The first line says that Gray's painting is the surface and symbol of his being, which explains how it becomes old and gruesome. The two following lines tell us that he (nor anyone else) cannot look upon it, lest they suffer the consequences.