Symbolist Art : Unveiling Psychological Truth Through Symbolism , Read here,

The Origins of Symbolism in French and Belgian Art

The movement in the French and Belgian art. The literature encouraged ideas through symbolism and diverted their focus totally onto the meaning behind every type of form, line, shape, and color. The Artists of the Symbolist Movement’s main focus was on how would they express the psychological truth and the idea beyond the physical world to reveal the spiritual reality. The main focus is on the emotions, feelings, ideas, and individuals rather than the realism of the theme.

Key Symbolist Artists and Their Unique Styles

The writer Jean Moreas (a Greek poet, essayist, and art critic) first time used the term symbolism in 1886. Paul Gauguin (an artist from the post-impressionism movement) is one most important artists who used symbolism in his artwork. Gustave Moreau a French artist was a really important figure in the symbolist art movement. Whose main focus of interest was to illustrate biblical and mythological figures in his artwork. As an artist Moreau earnestly worked on the symbolism, he appealed to the imaginations of the symbolist writers and artists. His work is renowned because of his Italian Renaissance influence in his work. His artwork is preserved at Paris Musee Gustave Moreau.

Gustave Moreau’s Mythological Symbolism: Beyond the Physical World

One of the most famous paintings is Jupiter and Seleme. In this magnificent artwork, he explores the classical myth in a very intimate yet unusual way to convey his interest in methodology and religion as an imaginative artist. In these intricate artworks, Moreau fuses rich vegetation with jewel-like marvelous colors to make the imaginative world seem like the real world. At last, as a symbolist artist, Moreau used numerous iconography (the imagery of symbolism and work of art used by an artist) which meant to be mysterious and not clear in their explanation, The artist often used representation from the symbolist writings and the ancient myths.  

Odilon Redon’s Dreamlike Vision: Abstract Forms and Colors

Another artist of this art movement is Odilon Redon a French artist, printmaker, draughtsman, and pastelist. He was born in Bordeaux; at a young age, he was awarded a prize in drawing at his school. Earlier he did basic studies in drawing but due to his father’s continuous urging him to study architecture, he decided to change his profession totally and ended up failing the entry test architecture which ended his career as an architect. He continued to paint under the guidance of Jean Leon Gerome. One of his most renowned works is The Eye Like a strange Ballon Mount toward Infinity. In this famous artwork, he used a simple eye with the skull of the dead which symbolizes the soul going upward to the beyond. This artwork brings the mind to a sense of mystery within the imaginative world.

James Ensor: Death, Masks, and Surreal Symbolism

At last James Ensor was a Belgian painter and printmaker. He was one the most important influences on the art movements like Expressionism and Surrealism. James was associated with the art group Les XX. At the age of 15 due to the lack no interest in academics, he left school and started to get artistically trained by the two local painters. His most famous artwork is Death and the Masks.

Conclusion

• The main focus of interest was the representation of symbolistic art.  
• The artist wanted to show psychological truth and ideas beyond the physical world.
• The artist’s main aim was to show the imaginative world like the real world.
• The artists focused on the meaning of the forms, lines, shapes, and colors.

Laiba Imran