Symbolism (art)

In the arts, the use of symbols to concentrate or intensify meaning, making the work more subjective than objective. In the visual arts, symbols have been used in works throughout the ages to transmit a message or idea, for example, the religious symbolism of ancient Egyptian art, Gothic art, and Renaissance art. Symbolism also refers to the Symbolist movement in art and literature, which flourished between 1885 and 1910. Symbolist painters rejected realism and Impressionism. They felt that art should not simply depict, but should suggest ideas, moods, and psychological states through colour, line, and form. Their subjects were often mythological, mystical, or fantastic. Gustave Moreau was a leading Symbolist painter. Others included Pierre Puvis de Chavannes and Odilon Redon in France, Arnold Böcklin in Switzerland, Edward Burne-Jones in Britain, and Jan Theodoor Toorop in the Netherlands.

Gauguin and his disciples of Pont-Aven give the clearest pictorial interpretation of what was described as an ‘ideational, synthetic, subjective, decorative’ aim. Local colour was emphasized and given an emotional value, and was substituted for the Impressionist use of light. Black outlines stressed the decorative and symbolic character of such a work as Gauguin's Le Christ Jaune.