The Modern Art Review: Symbolism

As I pointed out in my last post, Symbolism is heavily influenced by the romantics, especially Blake, Friedrich and Poe. It is a mostly French and Belgian school, prevalent in the late 1800s. It was related to the "decadent" movement in the same period, and is characterized by the grotesque, unconscious, terrific, gothic, sublime, and inhuman. It is highly metaphoric, highly suggestive, and highly psychological. The aim of the artists was to tap into the unspeakable code of humanity through secret avenues in the every day. In his rudimentary Symbolist's Manifesto, Jean Moreas sums up the movement:

     In this art, scenes from nature, human activities, and all other real world phenomena will not be     described for their own sake; here, they are perceptible surfaces created to represent their esoteric affinities with the primordial Ideals.

Edvard Munch's "The Scream" is the poster child (often literally) of this school. "The Scream" is perhaps one of this eras most-comented-upon paintings, and I won't add to that conversation anymore than to point out that the profound anxiety appears to be caused by the almost Sartrean nausea associated with the broadness of a world lit afire with unrestrained power.

Here beside it is another work, highly Freudian, violent and painfully pre-orgasmic, simply named "Vampire."

Of similar subject, "Sonata of the Sea: Finale", by Lithuanian painter Ciurlionis, uses creamy, velvetine color schemes that blend and swill together, creating a romantic impression of fused harmony in nature. The harmony is, nonetheless, miserably disturbing in all the best ways.


As in the grotesques of Poe and Lovecraft, within the symbolism of this composition, there is something larger than humanity, beautiful and sublime, eager to swallow it whole in a dazzling "wave" of gorgeous monstrosity.












Beside this I've placed a fantastic but soft scene, "Cloud Boat." The feathery will of the earthbound boatsman surpasses him in ability and eternality.

Carlos Schwabe's "Death of the Grave-Digger" is of a different brand. Munch follows a style that is eagerly Freudian, driving into the rumbling chaos of primitivity. Schwabe, however, prefigures the Jungian tradition, matting out blatant symbolic archetypes. While admittedly campy, the composition is disgusting and concise, capturing the last synapses in the dying man's mind as he crumples into his own handiwork. Not as sophisticated as Ciurlionis's existential terror or Munch's Freudian revulsion, Schwabe nonetheless calls no punches. He is upfront about human terror and pours it into a mold of symbolic destruction: the seductive angel and the impotent geriatric, her fermenting sexuality, his dominated will.

Symbolism left a profound mark on literature. It's influence resides in the works of Rimbaud, Pound, Elliot, Stevens, Wilde, and Yeats.