Wilde began to adopt more of Pater's aesthetic views in his own writing towards the late 1880's, with a few key differences. Pater's thoughts on aesthetics are transformed with wit in the preface to Dorian Gray: "It is the spectator, and not life, that art really mirrors" (3). Pater's ruminations on art and its subject can be seen as an influence, only Wilde presents this dense notion through witty and succinct prose. 

At this same time, Wilde wrote highly complimentary reviews of Pater's newly published works, including "Imaginary Portraits" (1887) and "Appreciations With An Essay on Style" (1889). In his review entitled "Mr. Pater's Imaginary Portraits," Wilde concludes that "On the whole, then, this is a singularly attractive book. Mr. Pater is an intellectual impressionist." Pater incorporates the use of many forms, including scholarly essay, brief life, short story, allegory, lyrical ekphrasis, historical vignette, myth, and diary, to create imaginative written pictures, solidifying a relationship between life and art. "Each portrait typically focuses on an individual who is deeply solitary, an enigma to the world around him, yet inhabits a historical moment in which his peculiar desires become harbingers of epochal cultural transition." Three years later, Wilde would publish The Picture of Dorian Gray in Lippincott's Magazine, which echoes greatly the idea of a portrait solidifying the relationship between life and art. 

https://victorianweb.org/authors/wilde/essays/5.html

https://victorianweb.org/authors/pater/hext2.html

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/4038/4038-h/4038-h.htm

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/4037/4037-h/4037-h.htm

Wilde, Oscar, and Joseph Bristow. “The Picture of Dorian Gray.” The Picture of Dorian Gray, Oxford University Press, 2006, p. 3.

https://muse.jhu.edu/article/603462