Human existence as a revelation of the invisible and the stake of beauty (Inspired by Oscar Wilde’s play “The Picture of Dorian Gray”) – Part I

Beauty is a form of Genius. […] It has divine right of sovereignty¹

These words of Oscar Wilde through the play The Picture of Dorian Gray rekindle the eternal enigma of beauty. Beauty: This concept, which is revealed as a duality, natural and at the same time divine, revives the human being from the world, feeding, at the same time, his existential anxieties that are consistent with his anxiety for self-transcendence. “What is beauty?”, “Is there beauty?”, “And if there is, is it real?”, What does it mean: “I am beautiful“?

Beauty is expressed as the visibility of beauty, for this very reason many believe that it does not need interpretation, since it is obvious. Many times people claim that beauty is only superficial, but beauty is not exclusively about Appearance, since the visible as a veil of the invisible constitutes the real mystery of our hylomorphic world.

Beauty expresses man’s inherent tendency for self-transcendence. This upward trend of human existence is not limited to a perspective of idealization of materiality, since it seeks to fulfill the desire of visual proximity with the appearance of invisibility.

Beauty as Transcendence: Between the Visible and the Invisible

Beauty as a path of ascension reveals its supersensible dimension. Beauty extends as an attraction that develops between the visible and the invisible, between the sensible and the ideal. This attraction gradually intensifies as the visual attraction towards the embodied dimension of beauty causes the influx into the soul which is reflected in the sensibility of each form. The power of the influx of beauty into the psyche gives rise to the metaphysical longing for personal beauty, or to put it platonically, the mania for intimate beauty, that is, love.²

Love is the fusion between the visible and the invisible side of beauty. The sight of sensible beauty awakens ideal beauty. The attraction to ideal beauty manifests itself as a nostalgic longing for the form the soul had seen in the world of ideas before it was embodied in the sensible world.

Love as the tension of the union between sensible and ideal beauty, as described with philosophical clarity in the Platonic dialogue Phaedros, reveals the transcendental aspect of beauty by activating a personal participation in the divine, since love constantly revives the devotional drive towards person we fall in love with, which is analogous to worshiping the divine.³ This devotional impulse reveals the quality of a higher harmonization of the sensible aspect with the invisible side of the human being.

The amorous tension between the persons in love reflects the beauty movement of the good activated within them by elevating their singularities into a new elevating unique entity, that of the amorous union. In Platonic ontology, beauty and the eros that emanates from beauty, the only visible idea in the sensible world, are identified with the good. The good in Platonic thought is the one and only in terms of the deification of beauty.⁴

The beauty and the upward love that is born within the good of beauty negate every vague, every amorphous thing that is identified with evil. Of course, man, just like love, unfolds in the midst of games from zero to infinity, from poverty to wealth and vice versa, from the moment human existence extends in the midst of the eternal alternation between good and evil.

The inseparable connection between good and beauty is found in the reflection of Shaftesbury [1671-1713]. Shaftesbury reflects on the question of beauty in An Inquiry into Virtues and Merits [1699].⁵ Through Shaftesbury’s contemplation, Platonic influences become active, as Shaftesbury tends to reconcile the beautiful, the good, and the true to show that through art, which emerges as a component of love, one can come to grasp beauty of the world, from the moment the universe is an endless unity and the artist is the one who makes visible, through tangible creation, the clarity of the original creation. Aesthetic beauty is, therefore, only the first step for one to advance, driven by the desire to become familiar with beauty, towards an ethical and rational beauty, seeking its invisible side revealed by the life of emotion and passion.

Body and Soul: The Unity of the Psychosomatic Whole

The harmonization of emotions with instinctive desires, the balancing between the sensible and the moral dimension of human existence constitute its beauty as a psychosomatic whole.

The harmony of soul and body, – how much that is! We in our madness, have separated the two, and have invented a realism that is bestial, an ideality that is void!⁶

So writes Oscar Wilde in his play The Picture of Dorian Gray. In this play, Wilde’s main character, the young aristocrat Dorian, captivated by the dazzling beauty of his portrait, created by the great painter Basil Hallward, realizes that time wears away beauty, so he wishes never to grow old. Dorian sells his soul in exchange for eternal youth, so that his beauty remains unaltered by time, unlike the portrait that bears the signs of decay, not only the decay that comes with the passage of time, but also of this deterioration that occurs due to the deviations of human existence within the spatio-temporal becoming. Dorian meets Lord Henry Wotton, a friend of the painter Basil, and he was fascinated by Henry’s strong personality and the ideas of risk that he carries, as a result of which he will be drawn into a secluded life, while the portrait will remind him of the impact of his every act in his soul, revealing the stake of beauty.

The Tragedy of Beauty in Wilde’s: “The Picture of Dorian Gray”

Soul and Body, Body and Soul, the two sides of the same coin, that is, the two sides of human existence composed within the unity of these two entities. The soul, according to Wilde, is not this abstract entity cut off from feeling, nor is the body exclusively the material flesh opposed to meaning. As he writes in The Picture of Dorian Gray, animal instincts lurk in the soul, while the body also has spiritual moments. As much as the union of soul and body is a mystery, their separation remains even more of a mystery. Does, after all, the soul-body separation negate beauty as such? Does the essence of beauty lie in their unity, in their dialectical relationship that constitutes the vitality of human existence?

The lived body (leib) is more like a work of art than a physical object writes Merleau Ponty in Phenomenology of Perception,⁷ since it experiences the moment and thus assures us of the uniqueness of our existence, which constitutes the truest and most essential expression of beauty. «Beauty is that mediates to us the joy of being here»⁸ as G. Bӧhme puts it. The body, the body-soul unity, is within the world as the heart is within the organism, constantly keeping alive the visible spectacle, Ponty argued, the multifaceted spectacle of beauty, the one visible idea.

Beauty is the razor’s edge between the visible and the invisible, it is a stake since the moment man constantly moves from the infinite to the abyss, tending to jump back to the infinite, a fact that intensifies the tragic of his existence, i.e. the constant striving for self-transcendence, despite the awareness of its contingency.

Modern man’s effort to understand the morbidity and pain of his time often exceeds the yield of the effort he makes to understand the beauty of life, intensifying the constant struggle for self-transcendence. The constant struggle of human existence brings to the surface the sublime beauty of life, not only as a concept, but also as a fact, that is, of personal life, of being alive experiencing one’s existence.

In his attempt to become familiar with his vitality, man experiences life itself in the midst of the unexpected aspects of beauty which emerges as a sudden transcendence of mortality, intensifying every time ugliness prevails as the only reality, concealing the greatness of life. In contrast to ugliness, beauty makes visible the greatness of life through human existence as a revelation of the invisible.

This invisible for many remains an unsolved mystery, for many a challenging invitation of life itself to man, who searches throughout his existence for the mystery of life, which is either invisible and not seen, or is visible , but the gaze of man has not yet revealed it. Perhaps, however, he has revealed it, but he himself has not discovered, nor realized the revelation of the mystery, as he dwells on the soul- body separation that fragments human wholeness? Oscar Wilde⁹ captures this fact by concluding that one of the greatest secrets of life is the healing of the soul through the senses and the healing of the senses through the soul, that is, to live taking care of one’s physicality, enjoying the sensible and sensual manifestations of his life, but at the same time also his soul, taking care of its beauty with his corresponding actions.

The purpose of life is self-development, at the moment the purpose of human existence is the realization of its nature, but in the modern age of dominant bio- systems man fears himself. Human beings are corrupted into insubstantialities in the hope of maintaining their place in the world. Souls are hungry and naked, writes Wilde,¹⁰ the human race has lost all sense of courage, as what rules us is the terror of society through false moral stereotypes. Within this reality of unpredictable fear and risk, human existence is mutilated, as it is submitted to a form of mechanistic precision. This mechanistic repeatability that makes eternity impenetrable is captured by existential time, from the moment the human being settles into what wears out his life for the purpose of his tragic survival. Man is punished for his denials, often, indeed, he punishes himself, struggling to suppress his selfhood, his will and desires, he regrets his truth, and the only things he never regrets are his mistakes, contradicting this way to the beauty of soul-body unity, thanks to which it is composed as a whole.

For Wilde, beauty reflects the unity of soul and body. Wilde believes that beauty is not exclusively about appearance, since he believed that beauty is always organic and comes from within, it is not defined by the outside.¹¹ Beauty stems from the perfection of the human condition and not from cosmetic additions that sometimes offer to hide emotions through the transformations of the index of the soul, i.e. the face.

Man, especially in the 21st century that unfolds within the iconosphere,¹² is concerned about his body image due to the succession of multiple aesthetic images and the imposition of new standards and stereotypes of beauty, often resorting to aesthetic interventions. According to G. Bӧhme these challenges and current images of beauty are an indication of the extent of man’s concern about his own bodily appearance.¹³ Through these interventions, human existence seeks to embrace the beauty of vitality, indeed, the permanence of vitality and youth, longing, deep down, for immortality itself.

Man’s youth extends as a sense of eternity, despite its short duration. This sense of eternity that emanates from youth is due to the attractiveness of vitality, which is of such intensity that it seems to reach beyond infinity. The beauty of youth that gives a sense of immortality becomes the reason for Dorian Gray to sell his soul in order to keep his beauty unchanged. His portrait, however, brings him in front of the responsibilities, the consequences of his actions and his life, acting as a depiction of the invisible.

The individual’s anxiety about the vitality of his body also has moral ramifications, since the living body transcends its image. Body image reflects qualities of body shape, the genders that are activated, and the ontological movements of human existence. The image, though it rests in the materiality of corporality, is refined, transformed, made more perfect, as the individual sets into action more perfect emotions. The more perfect the form, then, the more perfect is the matter through which the form is projected.

Human corporality, as Merleau Ponty very aptly points out, is more like a work of art than a physical object, since the human body is not a dead matter, but a hylomorphic totality of sensorimotor perceptibility, a totality of feeling and sensation, a statue composed of Substance and Imagination, just like art.

Art, writes Wilde, is surface and symbol at the same time.¹⁴ Art is the revelation of beauty, which, however, does not reveal itself directly, but challenges and invites the viewer himself to take up the stake of its revelation, daring to explore the depth of the surface. Those who dare to explore below the surface are at risk, because in reality, art does not reflect life as an abstract reality, but as a place for the unfolding of the viewer’s existence, his existential truth.

Every truth is obvious as soon as one discerns it, the question is to discern it, or rather, more aptly, to bear to discern it. The beauty of art lies in the fact that art itself – through all its forms – generously offers the ideal freedom, openly bringing the viewer face to face with freedom itself, since the familiarity of freedom presupposes the responsibility of assuming the relationship with himself. Can man bear to face the truth of existence as a singularity within the vast multiplicity? Can he bear to take up the stake of the beauty that emanates from his very existence as a revelation of invisibility?

Image, Identity, and the Collapse of the Self

The viewer is charged by the atmosphere that surrounds him and the work, but also  by some internal data, since the moment as a person has a past and a present. The viewer and the work meet under certain conditions, not as isolated elements. As, then, the viewer approaches the work, so the work approaches him, as it recognizes and responds to the approach of the viewer. What the viewer faces is a form observing him, and as he realizes that his role is foreseen, he realizes that his function is inherent  in the work.¹⁵

The communication between viewer and artistic creation brings to the surface the  deepest relationship between viewer and creator, revealing the psychoanalytic  dimension of art. The psychoanalytic dimension of art is determined by empathy and  introspection, as a two-person psychology is built, both between the viewer and the  work of art, and between the artist and the work.¹⁶ The Εgo of the subject (artist,  viewer) and the object (image) enter into a mutual relationship, in which the work meets more and more demands of the artist/ viewer, who, on the other hand, begins to  adjust his gaze, as he recognizes new qualities, hypothetical or actual disharmonies.  At the same time the subject (spectator, artist) feels insecure, entering a new reality, while at the same time welcoming this new reality which in turn enters his own, trying  to reconcile with it and assimilate its peculiarities. This phenomenon called the multiple circular passage from the Ego to the object¹⁷ highlights the dialectic of the  relationship between Ego (spectator, creator) – work, for the moment it excludes the short-term – casual acquaintance with a work, exceeding the level of conflict and the urge of first contact. 

The artist often creates addressing an imaginary audience, while at other times he is inspired by a specific form or creates for a specific client. On the other hand, the viewer is not only interested in the individual work, but also in the artist. As can be seen, the triple: spectator-work-artist brings to the surface the deepest, but  also complicated relationship between subject (spectator, artist) and object (image).  But what happens in cases where the viewer is not just an observer, but also a source of inspiration? When he does not see an alien form, but his own form through a work of art, like Dorian Gray who sees his own image in the portrait? When the imaged  person not only faces his visible, but also his invisible aspect? Is he able to bear the truth of the unseen side of his being? The history of the portrait of Dorian Gray highlights the newest and most modern style of portraiture, which establishes the modern history of the image. The technique of portraiture establishes the understanding of the relationship between the image as a  form and the medium, i.e. the portrait. The technique of the portrait ferments within the historical, social and artistic needs, a fact that is observed in the transition from the era of the depiction of coat of arms¹⁸ to the depiction of embodied forms of specific  persons. The technique of the portrait transitions from the social body, from the symbol that expresses social class and genealogical space-time,¹⁹ to the body image, to the uniqueness of human physicality through the depiction of a specific, unique face.

1. Όσκαρ Γουάιλντ, Το Πορτρέτο του Ντόριαν Γκρέι, (μτφρ. Θανάσης Οργανόπουλος), εκδ. Καρακώτσογλου, Αθήνα, 2020, chapter 2, p. 47. ↩︎
2. Πλάτων Φαίδρος, (Μελέτη, Μετάφραση, Σχόλια: Παναγιώτης Δόικος), εκδ. Ζήτρος, Θεσσαλονίκη, 2001, Introduction, p. 34. ↩︎
3. See note 2 above, p. 31. ↩︎
4. See note 3 above, pp. 32-39. ↩︎
5. Elio Franzini, «Αισθητική: γέννηση και ανάπτυξη της επιστήμης του ωραίου». In Umberto Eco- Riccardo Fedriga η ιστορία της φιλοσοφίας, τόμ. 5, (μτφρ. Ελένη Τουλούπη), εκδ. Ελληνικά Γράμματα, 2018, εκδ. Πεδίο (γι’ αυτήν την έκδ. ΑΛΤΕΡ ΕΓΚΟ Α.Ε., Αθήνα 2018), (Storia della Filosofia, 2014, by EM Publishers, srl, Milano). ↩︎
6. Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray (The original 1890 Uncensored Edition+ The Expanded and Revised 1891 Edition), © e-artnow, 2013, chapter 1. https://www.google.gr/books/edition/The_Picture_of_Dorian_Gray_The_Original/pO5BBAAAQBAJ?hl=el&gbpv=1 (25/1/2024). ↩︎
7. Ponty, M.M. Φαινομενολογία της Αντίληψης, ( Phenomenologiedelaperceotion), (μτφρ. Κική Καψαμπέλη), εκδ. Νήσος, 2016, Αθήνα ( Gallimard, 1945). ↩︎
8. Gernot Bӧhme, The Aesthetics of Atmospheres, Edited by Jean – Paul Thibaud, 1^st published 2017 by Routledge Taylor & Francis Group London and New York, p. 64 [ Notes: 25. Gernot Bӧhme, “Das Glück, da zu sein”, in R. J Kozljanič (ed.), II. Jahrbuch für Lebensphilosophie, Munich, Albunca Verlag, 2006, pp. 209-18. Also in Renate Breuninger (ed.), Glück , Ulm, Humboldt Studienzentrum, 2006, pp. 57-69]. https://www.google.gr/books/edition/The_Aesthetics_of_Atmospheres/JCglDwAAQBAJ?hl=el&gbpv=1 (25/1/2024). ↩︎
9. Όσκαρ Γουάιλντ, Το Πορτρέτο του Ντόριαν Γκρέι, (μτφρ. Θανάσης Οργανόπουλος), εκδ. Καρακώτσογλου, Αθήνα, 2020, chapter 2, p. 45. ↩︎
10. See above, note 9, chapter 2, p. 40. ↩︎
11. Ουάιλντ, Πόε, ΗΦιλοσοφίατηςΈνδυσηςκαιτηςΕπίπλωσης, ( Wilde, Poe, The Philosophy of Dress [1885]. The Philosophy of Furniture [1840])Σειρά: De Natura Hominis [3], (μτφρ. Λαμπριάνα Οικονόμου), εκδ. Κοβάλτιο, Αθήνα 2019, Όσκαρ Ουάιλντ, Η Φιλοσοφία της Ένδυσης, pp. 12-13, 19. ↩︎
12. Σωκράτης Δεληβογιατζής, Ζητήματα Διαλεκτικής, εκδ. Ερωδιός (4^η έκδοση), Θεσσαλονίκη, 2010, chapter X., p. 302.Ουάιλντ, Η Φιλοσοφία της Ένδυσης, pp. 12-13, 19. ↩︎
13. Marcus Knaup, Unity of Body and Soul or Mind- Brain Being. Towards a Paradigm shift in Modern Concepts of Personhood, J. B. Metzler , Stuttgart, 2018, B, 3.1, p. 231, note 31 [Bӧhme, G.: Leibsein als Aufgabe. Leibphilosophie in pragmatischer Hinsicht. Baden- baden 2003, p.77].
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14. Όσκαρ Γουάιλντ, ΤοΠορτρέτοτουΝτόριανΓκρέι, (μτφρ. Θανάσης Οργανόπουλος), εκδ. Καρακώτσογλου, Αθήνα, 2020, Introduction, p. 12.ηβογιατζής, Ζητήματα Διαλεκτικής, εκδ. Ερωδιός (4^η έκδοση), Θεσσαλονίκη, 2010, chapter X., p. 302. ↩︎
15. Hans Belting, Heinrich Dilly, Wolfgang Kemp, Willibald Sauerländer, Martin Warnke (edit.), Εισαγωγή στην Ιστορία της Τέχνης (Kunstgeschichte: Eine Einführung, 1^st published: Berlin: Reimer, 1985),  (translated into greek by: Λ. Γυιόκα), Μ. Παπανικολάου (επιμ.), ελληνική έκδοση: ©Βάνιας , Θεσσαλονίκη, 1995, Part III, [Wolfgang Kemp, «Έργο τέχνης και θεατής: Η αισθητική της πρόληψης»], p. 304. ↩︎
16. Hans Belting, An Anthropology of Images, ( 1^st published in Germany under the title Bild- Anthropologie : Entwürfe für eine Bildwissenschaft, ©2001 by Verlag Wilhelm  Fink, Munich), translated into English by: Thomas Dunlap, ©2011 by Princeton University Press. (26/1/2024). ↩︎
17. See above note 15, [ Hartmut Kraft «Τριπλές δυάδες: Η αναλυτική- ψυχολογική προσέγγιση της τέχνης»], p. 357.  ↩︎
18. See above note 15. ↩︎
19. See above note 16. ↩︎