"Skin" is a macabreshort story written byRoald Dahl. It was first published in the 17 May 1952 issue ofThe New Yorker,^[1] and was later featured in the collectionsSomeone Like You, published in 1953, andSkin and Other Stories, published in 2000. It was adapted for television as part ofAnglia Television'sTales of the Unexpected, and broadcast on 8 March 1980.

A destitute old man named Drioli walks through the streets of Paris. When he passes by an art gallery and sees a painting byChaïm Soutine, he reminisces about a time long-ago when they were friends. Over thirty years earlier, Soutine had been in love with Drioli's wife Josie, and on a particular day in autumn 1913, Drioli, a tattoo artist, had been fortunate to work on nine clients, most of whom had paid in cash. This resulted in unusually large earnings for that day, and Drioli had decided to celebrate by buying their fill of bottles of wine. When he had become drunk, he asked Soutine to paint a picture of Josie on Drioli's back and then tattoo over it, which Soutine agreed to; once taught how to by Drioli and discussing the artistic merits of tattooing, Soutine is pleased enough with the resultant artwork to sign it. After theFirst World War Soutine was discovered by a dealer and sent toCéret, and Drioli and Josie moved their tattoo business toLe Havre. During theSecond World War Josie died in a bombing incident, and in his grief Drioli lost his business, being forced intopanhandling.

Drioli enters an art gallery that is showing an exhibition of Soutine's work. The proprietor tries to remove Drioli, who then reveals the incredible tattoo by Soutine that is on his back. Several people attending the exhibition make bids for the tattoo, also inquiring after Drioli's health because the picture does not have much value as long as he is alive. Two men in particular offer unusual proposals. One says he will pay for a skin-grafting operation so that the artwork may be removed from Drioli's back, and that he will also pay for the artwork thus obtained; other patrons warn that at such poor health and advanced age, Drioli would never survive the skin-grafting surgery. The other man, claiming to be the owner of the Bristol Hotel inCannes, offers that Drioli becomes an employee of sorts at said hotel and live instead a life of luxury and leisure while exhibiting his back to the guests whilst sunning and drinking cocktails at his private beach. Drioli, who is hungry, accepts the latter's proposal and leaves the gallery with him.

Thenarrator then explains that there is no Bristol Hotel in Cannes, and that a heavilyvarnished painting matching the description of Drioli's tattoo turned up for sale at an auction inBuenos Aires a few weeks later, and that this "causes one to wonder a little, and to pray for the old man's health, and to hope fervently that wherever he may be at this moment, there is a plump attractive girl to manicure the nails of his fingers, and a maid to bring him breakfast in bed in the mornings".

Groff Conklin in 1954 called the story "a hair-curling slice of macabre".^[2]

• "Skin" title listing at theInternet Speculative Fiction Database

• Short stories by Roald Dahl
• 1952 short stories
• Media depictions of tattooing
• Works originally published in The New Yorker

• Articles with short description
• Short description matches Wikidata
• Use dmy dates from April 2022