A piece of art is many things at once: it is what it looks or sounds like, and it is what it represents. The former is of the senses: it is the painter's paint or the musician's notes. The latter is deeper, less tangible, and often more important than the former. The surface comes from something of the senses, and is easily accessible to the viewer by the senses. The symbol comes from something unique and special: it comes from the artist himself. In The Picture of Dorian Gray, Oscar Wilde's characters, specifically Basil, the painter, and Gray, a musician and painter in his own right, mix their emotions in with their art, and create their best art because of an emotional connection between the artist and his art. In fact, in a given piece of art, the artist is more important than the subject of the art...