SymbolismFrench Symbolism was in large part a reaction against Naturalism and Realism, movements which attempted to capture reality. These movements invited a reaction in favour of spirituality, the imagination, and dreams; the path to Symbolism begins with that reaction. Symbolists believed that art should aim to capture more absolute truths which could only be accessed by indirect methods. In painting, Symbolism was a continuation of some mystical tendencies in the Romantic tradition. The Symbolist painters mined mythology and dream imagery for a visual language of the soul, seeking evocative paintings that brought to mind a static world of silence. The symbols used in Symbolism are not the familiar emblems of mainstream iconography but intensely personal, private, obscure and ambiguous references. More a philosophy than an actual style of art, the Symbolist painters influenced the contemporary Art Nouveau movement and Les Nabis. In their exploration of dreamlike subjects they are also precursors of the Surrealists. Symbolist Artists: |
