Oscar Wilde Statue, Dublin

This Oscar Wilde tribute in Dublin's Merrion Square park is perhaps the greatest statue of all time. This may be the only statue in the history of statues both to totally capture the subject's personality and do to it in a way that would have amused the hell out of him. What a portrait!

Across the walkway are two square marble columns covered in Wilde witicisms. The words are carved into the marble in a way that looks like Wilde's original handwriting, making it look like graffiti from a distance. One column is topped with a small sculpture of a kneeling woman, and the other of man's torso, both of which seem ill-fitting with the rest of the installation. But the rest of it is so perfect that I don't even care.

The sculptor is Danny Osborne. The marker says it was commissioned by the Guinness Ireland Group and unveiled on October 28, 1997. Photo taken December 2006.