Symbolism
- An art movement which
rejected the purely visual realism
of the Impressionists,
and the rationality of the Industrial Age, in order to depict
the symbols of ideas. Influenced by
Romanticism and the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, it thrived in France
in the late nineteenth century, its influence spreading throughout
much of Europe. Rather than the precise equivalents of ideas or
emotions, its symbols were meant to be more mysterious,
ambiguous suggestions of
meanings. The work of one
group, including Piérre Puvis de Chavannes (French, 1824-1898),
Gustave Moreau (French, 1826-1898), and Odilon Redon (French,
1840-1916), took a literary approach, employing some of the imagery of Symbolist writers,
including such icons as
severed heads, monsters and glowing or smoky spirits, synthesized
from elements of Bible stories and ancient
myths. Later, the imaginative incongruities in these works
were to influence the Surrealists.
Another group, taking a formal
approach, in which linear
stylizations and innovative
uses of color produced emotional
effects, included Paul Gauguin (French, 1848-1903), Vincent van
Gogh (Dutch, 1853-1890) and the Nabis.
Examples of Symbolist works:
Pierre Puvis de Chavannes (French, 1824-1898),
Sleep, 1867 or 1870, oil
on canvas, 26 1/8 x 41
3/4 inches (66.4 x 106 cm), Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY.
Pierre Puvis de Chavannes, Beheading of St. John the Baptist (La Décollation
de St. Jean Baptiste), 1869, oil
on canvas, about 48 x 64
inches, Barber Institute of Fine Arts, Birmingham, England. This
was exhibited in the influential Armory
Show of 1913.
Pierre Puvis de Chavannes, Ludus pro patria (Patriotic Games), oil on canvas,
13 1/8 x 52 7/8 inches (33.3 x 134.3 cm), Metropolitan Museum
of Art, NY.
Pierre Puvis de Chavannes, Inter artes et naturam (Between Art and Nature),
oil on canvas,
15 7/8 x 44 3/4 inches (40.3 x 113.7 cm), Metropolitan Museum
of Art, NY.
Pierre Puvis de Chavannes, The Shepherd's Song, 1891, oil
on canvas, 41 1/8 x 43
1/4 inches (104.5 x 109.9 cm), Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY.
Gustave Moreau (French, 1826-1898), Oedipus and the Sphinx, 1864, oil
on canvas, 81 1/4 x 41
1/4 inches (206.4 x 104.8 cm), Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY.
See mythology
and sphinx.
Gustave Moreau (French, 1826-1898), The Unicorn,
1885, oil on canvas,
Musée Gustave Moreau, Paris. See horn.
Gustave Moreau, Jupiter and Semele, 1898, and The Peacock complaining to Juno, 1881.
Arnold Böcklin (Swiss, 1827-1901), The
Island of the Dead, 1883, oil
on wood panel,
80 x 150 cm, Nationalgalerie, Berlin. See Romanticism.
Odilon Redon (French, 1840-1916), The
Light of Day (Le Jour), Plate VI from "Songes",
1891, lithograph,
8 1/4 x 6 1/8 inches. This was exhibited in the Armory
Show of 1913.
Odilon Redon (French, 1840-1916), Profile of a Woman with a Vase of Flowers,
c.1895-1905, oil on canvas, 65.5 x 50.5 cm, Tate
Gallery, London.
Odilon Redon, Madame Arthur Fontaine (Marie Escudier),
1901, pastel on paper,
28 1/2 x 22 1/2 inches (72.4 x 57.2 cm), Metropolitan Museum
of Art, NY.
Odilon Redon, Etruscan Vase with Flowers, 1900-10,
tempera on canvas,
32 x 23 1/4 inches (81.3 x 59.1 cm), Metropolitan Museum of Art,
NY. See Symbolism.
Odilon Redon (French, 1840-1916), Roger
and Angelica, c. 1910, pastel
on paper, 36 1/2 x 28 3/4 inches,
Museum of Modern Art, NY. This was exhibited in the Armory
Show of 1913.
Odilon Redon, Silence, n.d., oil
on canvas, 29 1/4 x 29
inches, Minneapolis Institute of Arts.
Edvard Munch (Norwegian, 1863-1944), Madonna, 1895-1902, lithograph and woodcut, complete: 23 3/4 x 17 1/2 inches
(60.5 x 44.5 cm), edition: c. 250, Museum of Modern Art, NY.
This was exhibited in the influential Armory
Show of 1913. See Expressionism
and Madonna.
Maurice Denis (French, 1870-1943), Orpheus and Eurydice, 1910, oil
on canvas, 45 1/4 x 65
inches, Minneapolis Institute of Arts.
Sir Thomas
Malory (British, 15th c.), Author; Aubrey Beardsley (British,
1872-1898), Illustrator; London: J. M. Dent and Co., 1893, Publisher,
Morte d'Arthur, 1893, printed book; 12
pts. : ill. , pl. ; 26 cm, Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY.
Illustrated:
Aubrey Beardsley's design for the printed paper
wrapper from Part I. See illustration.
Aubrey Beardsley, The Dream, 1896, pen and black ink,
J. Paul Getty Museum, Malibu, CA.
Boleslas Biegas (Polish, 1877-1954), 1902, Sphinx, sculpture, bust, Musée d'Orsay, Paris. See Polish art, and sphinx.
Also see expressionism,
fanciful, grotesque,
oneiric, and Surrealism.
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