Chapter 2 — The Picture of Dorian Gray

Basil and Lord Henry enter the studio to find Dorian Gray at the piano, petulant about another sitting but instantly charmed by the guest he was not meant to meet. Basil tries to send Henry away so he can work, yet Dorian refuses: if Henry leaves, he will leave too. Henry stays, and the sitting begins with the older man's wit already competing with the artist for the boy's attention.

While Basil paints, Henry speaks in the garden about influence, temptation, and the duty to live without self-denial. His paradoxes on yielding to desire and fearing a joyless age land on Dorian like revelation. Basil captures a new expression on the canvas he has never seen before and warns Dorian not to believe a word Henry says, but the words have already done their work.

When the portrait is finished, Dorian stares at his own flawless image and realizes his face will wrinkle while the painting stays young. Jealousy of the picture becomes despair, then the desperate wish that the bargain could reverse. He cries that he would give his soul to keep his beauty while the canvas aged in his place, and Henry treats the vow as poetry rather than warning.

Basil, horrified, reaches for a palette knife to destroy the masterpiece. Dorian stops him, calling it murder, then clings to the portrait as part of himself. Over tea Henry proposes the theatre; Basil begs Dorian to stay and dine. Dorian hesitates, looks to Henry, and chooses the older man's world. He leaves in Henry's hansom while Basil remains with the painted face, already sensing he has lost the living boy.

The chapter declares the novel's supernatural premise in plain language before anyone admits what the wish means: influence has won the first battle, and a soul has been offered without a witness taking it seriously.