The Picture of Dorian Gray is one of Oscar Wilde’s genuine masterpieces; a fascinating work of artistry deserving of the label in a thousand different ways.

Publisher’s Weekly noted, “The Picture of Dorian Gray categorically changed Victorian Britain and the landscape of literature. An ostentatious, self-confessed aesthete, known for his wit and intellect, Wilde not only had to endure his prose being labeled “poisonous” and “vulgar,” but also suffer its use as evidence in his ensuing trial, resulting in his eventual imprisonment for crimes of “gross indecency.”

Brimming with powerful homoerotic imagery and symbolism, its intensity sustained by roguish irony and moments of exquisite beauty, Wilde’s masterpiece is one of the most profoundly debauched creations in literary history.

OSCAR WILDE (1854–1900) was an Irish poet, novelist, playwright, essayist, and short story writer. He is best known for Salomé, The Importance of Being Earnest, Lady Windermere’s Fan, A Woman of No Importance, An Ideal Husband, De Profundis, The Ballad of Reading Gaol, and The Picture of Dorian Gray.