The Picture of Dorian Gray 1 & 2

Basil, similar to Oscar Wilde himself, is extremely contradictory, especially in his opinions about art.  In his preface, Oscar Wilde discusses how art is "useless," almost ignoring the fact that he himself is an artist (Wilde viii).  Similarly, Basil explains to Lord Henry that personal feelings should be left out of art: "An artist should create beautiful things, but should put nothing of his own life into them" (Wilde 8).  This statement is most obviously contradictory and hypocritical because Basil says this after creating a painting of Dorian Gray that he claims has too much of himself in it.  If he truly felt that art should not be personal towards the artist, he could have simply painted the portrait as such.  There is also an underlying sense of uncertainty and possible hypocrisy in this statement.  Oscar Wilde was criticized by society regarding this novel because it was the common belief that the novel reflected on who Wilde was as a person and what his ideals were.  If this novel does in fact reflect Wilde and his beliefs, there is an underlying sense of hypocrisy in Basil's claiming that art should not reflect the feelings and opinions of the artist.  Based on the beginning of the novel, Basil shares the same sense of contradiction and hypocrisy as Wilde, which could possibly imply that Wilde did reflect himself in the novel.