This document summarizes key aspects of symbolist art from the late 19th century, including common themes, styles, and artists. Symbolist art used symbolic imagery and metaphors to represent ideas and emotions. Common symbolist themes included sexuality, death, mythology, and the depiction of women as either femme fatale (seductresses) or angelic mothers. Well-known symbolist artists like Gustave Moreau, Fernand Khnopff, and Franz Stuck painted works rich in symbolic meaning and imagery relating to these themes.

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7. IntroductionOriginated in France (late 19th century)DreamsLoosely defined movement in art… (darker sides of Romanticism)“Art should show more absolute truths which could only be seen indirectly”SpiritualityMysterious, ambiguous interpretations of emotions using symbolsImaginationSignificant influence on expressionism, surrealism

8. IntroductionBorrowed images from symbolist writingsCommon themesSexuality/Nudity

9. Biblical events

10. Angels

11. Women/Motherhood

12. Bright colors/graphics

13. Dark spirits/ Death

14. Gods/Goddess

15. Ancient Myth CharactersSource of inspirationBiblical references & ancient mythTraditional Approach

16. Symbolism: death, evil, mysteriousWell-known artists for this type of symbolismsJean DelvilleArnold BocklinBelgian symbolist: 1867-1953Symbolist painter, writer, occultist,

17. Aura: Enlighten, developed to another stageUpward gazeHot colors: earthly fires of passion & sensualityUpward triangle: perfect human knowledge, achieved through magicMood: mystery, intrigue, magical, supernaturalMediumistic character“Mysteriosa” Jean Deville (1892)(Portrait of Mrs. Stuart Merrill)

18. Symbolism: death, evil, mysteriousWell-known artists for this type of symbolismsJean DelvilleArnold BocklinSwiss-German symbolist: 1827-1901He had 11 children and 5 of them died in infancy

19. Skeleton: death, dark spirit, mortality life?Darker colors: mysterious, unexplained, secretive Fiddle vs. ViolinGaze: entranced, worried, stressful , determinedArt is what keeps him going.. (pleasant-feeling)Gustav Mahler Symphony No. 4 in G MajorSelf-Portrait with Death playing the fiddle (1872)

20. Island of the Dead (1883)Title of the picture(tranquil place)White-drape coffin on the boatContrasting colorsCypress TreeImmobility, withdrawal, disassociation

21. Symbolism and “Mythology”Biblical and Greek mythology continues

22. Symbolists - mythology &dream >> visual language of soul - symbols >> personal, private, obscure, and ambiguousGustave Moreau (1826-1898) - symphonic poems - bright, jewel-like color, luxurious effect - woman >> destruction and chaos (mostly)

23. Jason and Medea Title : Jason and medea (1865) oil on canvasButterfliesClenched hand and Size of medeaBroken spear andthe beastVial of magic, serpent, garland of flowers

24. Oedipus and the sphinx Title : Oedipus and the sphinx (1864) Oil on canvas

25. The position of sphinx :more prominent than Oedipus, full of details, latches on Oedipus’ s chest

26. Oedipus’s immobile and expressionless : the man is too helpless to fight in the world full with terrible things

27. The sphinx’s expression: anxious

28. The cloudy bluish-gray sky : the fate of OedipusSalome dancing before HerodSalome dancing before Herod (1876)oil on canvasThe lotusBracelet with the open eye The act of dancingThe panther

29. Sexual Symbolism“God” designed sex, not man or society. Sex is a Big Thing. What it means is so big that we will never exhaust it, only discover more facets of its diamond.The relationship between symbolism and sexuality was not always degrading to women. Sex was a source of liberation with the potential to unite humanity with God.

30. FélicienRops(July 7, 1833 - August 23, 1898)Belgian artistLover of the fantastic and the supernaturalSymbolic themes such as the devil, skeletons, the prostitute, and death dominated his workMany demonstrated his belief that women dominated men and the devil dominated women....Woman is Satan’s accomplice, provokes the most extreme vices and torments in Man

31. "Pornokrates" (1896) BlindfoldedPig with the golden tail  Men

32. "Pornokrates" or«La Dame au cochon» (1896) For some the pig with the golden tail represents the image of luxury and lucre steering the woman, whose only excuse is her blindness For others, it is the image of man, bestial and stupid, kept in check by the womanPornokrates imply the advent to the art world of the contemporary woman which Rops glorified She is characterised by her arrogance, her composure and her ruthlessness

33. The Temptation of St. Anthony (1878)