Ugliness that had once been hateful to him because it made things real, became dear to him now for that very reason. Ugliness was the one reality. The coarse brawl, the loathsome den, the crude violence of disordered life, the very vileness of thief and outcast, were more vivid, in their intense actuality of impression, than all the gracious shapes of Art, the dreamy shadows of Song.
– Oscar Wilde
The Picture of Dorian Gray, Chapter 16. Dorian is taking a cab ride to a rough and seedy part of London to visit an opium den to indulge his craving for opium. He reflects on his soul’s fall from grace. From being a lover of art and beautiful things and indulging himself in aesthetic experiences, ugliness has now become his only reality. His "disordered life" in London’s heart of darkness was now more vivid and intense to him than all the shapes of art.