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All art is at once surface and symbol.
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“All art is at once surface and symbol.”

Oscar Wilde

Source
The Picture of Dorian Gray — 1891 edition
Date
1891
Local voice
Authorial / signed preface voice · Oscar Wilde — Preface
Meaning

Meaning of “All art is at once surface and symbol.”

The aphorism resists a simple choice between appearance and hidden meaning: an artwork can operate through both at the same time.

Source context

Where does it come from?

The Picture of Dorian Gray, 1891 edition, Preface; part of Wilde’s warning about reading beneath artistic surfaces.

Primary / edition source ↗

Speaker context

Why the local voice matters

This is part of Wilde’s signed Preface to The Picture of Dorian Gray.

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Themes

Ideas connected with this quotation