The Development of Artistic Trends Across Eras: Symbolism, 1880s–1910
| Symbolism was a late 19th-century art movement that emerged in France and Belgium and soon spread across Europe. It was a reaction against Realism and Impressionism, rejecting the visible world in favour of the internal and the mystical. Symbolist artists sought to express the ineffable, dreams, emotions, spirituality, and states of mind, through metaphor, suggestion, and poetic imagery. Rather than depicting the material world, Symbolism turned inward, embracing myth, allegory, and the occult. Artists drew on literature, religion, and ancient mythology to explore themes like death, eroticism, melancholy, and the subconscious. Their work often featured mysterious figures, shadowy forests, or dreamlike visions, emphasizing mood over narrative clarity. Symbolism was closely tied to contemporary developments in poetry and philosophy, particularly the works of Baudelaire, Mallarmé, and Nietzsche. It also overlapped with the Decadent movement, sharing an interest in beauty, artifice, and the irrational. While it began as a literary and visual movement, Symbolism helped lay the groundwork for modernist styles such as Surrealism and Expressionism. |
 The Art Institute of Chicago |
|
 The Abandoned City, 1904, Royal Museums of Fine Art of Belgium |
Cultural Era: |
Symbolism emerged during a period of growing anxiety and disillusionment with modern life, science, and industrial progress. It reflected a turn inward, toward personal vision, mystery, and the unconscious. |
Art and Artists of Note in Symbolism
Odilon Redon (1840–1916) |
 |
Odilon Redon was a French painter and printmaker whose dreamlike, often mysterious works helped define Symbolism’s inward turn toward the imagination and the unconscious. Early in his career, Redon worked mostly in black-and-white charcoal drawings and lithographs he called noirs, which depicted strange hybrid creatures, floating eyes, and haunted faces. These eerie, otherworldly images reflected Redon’s interest in dreams, spirituality, and inner vision. Later, he shifted to colour, producing luminous pastels and oil paintings filled with symbolic flowers, mythical figures, and radiant halos. Works like The Cyclops (1914) and Ophelia Among the Flowers (about 1905-08) convey a mood of enchantment and psychological depth rather than linear narrative. Deeply influenced by poetry, Redon saw his art as a reflection of the soul and imagination. His work anticipated Surrealism and remains vital for its blending of the fantastical and the personal. |
 |
Gustave Moreau (1826–1898) |
 |
Gustave Moreau was a leading figure in French Symbolist painting, known for his richly detailed, highly imaginative depictions of mythological and biblical subjects. Rejecting realism, Moreau sought to evoke a world of mystery and spiritual resonance. His paintings, such as The Apparition (1876), which depicts a bloodied vision of John the Baptist's severed head before Salome, are dense with symbolism, jewel-like colour, and ornamental pattern. |
 |
BedoresGallery.com
Share