Symbolism was a French literary movement in the 1880s that focused on subjective and simplified artistic visions. It produced dream-like worlds populated with mythological figures and creatures to symbolize universal human emotions like love, fear, anguish, and death. Woman often represented these emotions, appearing as virgins or femme fatales. Prominent Symbolist artists included Edvard Munch, Ferdinand Hodler, Fernand Khnopff, and Gustav Klimt, who created works depicting themes of the unconscious and featuring symbolic figures.

1. SYMBOLISM
in painting

2. •French literary movement in the
1880s
•Albert Aurier gave the first
definition of symbolism as an
aesthetic, describing it as the
subjective vision of an artist
expressed through a simplified
and non-naturalistic style.
•In 1891an article on Paul Gauguin
was published hailing him as the
leader of symbolism.

3. Symbolism produced
imaginary dream worlds
populated with mysterious
figures from biblical stories
and Greek mythology as well
as fantastical, often
monstrous, creatures.

4. CHARACTERISTICS OF SYMBOLISM

5. Themes In Symbolist Art
•love
•fear
•anguish
•death
•sexual awakening
•unrequited desire.

6. Woman became the favored
symbol for the expression of these
universal emotions, appearing
alternately as wistful virgins and
menacing femmes fatales.

7. EXAMPLES

8. Oedipus and The Sphinx

9. Apparition of the Baptist Head

10. Death and the Grave Digger by Carlos Schwabe

11. The Scream (1893) by Edvard Munch

12. The Anxiety (1894)

13. "The Night" by Ferdinand Hodler

14. The Caresses (The Sphinx)1896 by Khnopff

15. Island of the Dead (1880) by Arnold Bocklin

16. The Dream (1883) by Pierre Puvis de Chavannes

17. Thank you for
listening

18. PROMINENT ARTIST OF
SYMBOLISM
•Edvard Munch
•Ferdinand Hodler
•Fernand Khnopff
• Gustav Klimt
• Gustav Monreau
• Sir Edward Burne-
Jones
• Arnold Bocklin
• Pierre Puvis de
Chavannes
• Adria Gual