Aestheticism

In the Preface to The Picture of Dorian Gray, Wilde provides an overview of his aesthetic philosophy. He disputes the idea that art should be meant to edify and enlighten, and contends that art has no purpose other than being beautiful. He says “Those who find ugly meanings in beautiful things are corrupt without being charming” (pg. 846). Wilde was rejecting the Victorian view that art should serve some moral or social purpose.

Wilde felt that art’s inherent value is its beauty, and its beauty alone. “Beautiful things mean only beauty.” Wilde states that “There is no such thing as a moral or an immoral book. Books are well written, or badly written. That is all.” Art is solely for pleasure, and not for any practical or moral purpose.

Artists are not out to prove anything in their art. Wilde cautions against going beneath the surface of art and trying to read more into it. “All art is at once surface and symbol” (pg. 847).

Wilde says that useful things should not be admired, and to that end, “All art is quite useless.”