
Symbolism was a late 19th-century
art movement
An art movement is a tendency or style in art with a specific common philosophy or goal, followed by a group of artists during a specific period of time, (usually a few months, years or decades) or, at least, with the heyday of the movement defi ...
of
French
French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to France
** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents
** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...
and
Belgian origin in poetry and other arts seeking to represent absolute truths symbolically through language and metaphorical images, mainly as a reaction against
naturalism and
realism.
In literature, the style originates with the 1857 publication of
Charles Baudelaire
Charles Pierre Baudelaire (, ; ; 9 April 1821 – 31 August 1867) was a French poet who also produced notable work as an essayist and art critic. His poems exhibit mastery in the handling of rhyme and rhythm, contain an exoticism inherited ...
's ''
Les Fleurs du mal
''Les Fleurs du mal'' (; en, The Flowers of Evil, italic=yes) is a volume of French poetry by Charles Baudelaire.
''Les Fleurs du mal'' includes nearly all Baudelaire's poetry, written from 1840 until his death in August 1867. First publis ...
''. The works of
Edgar Allan Poe
Edgar Allan Poe (; Edgar Poe; January 19, 1809 – October 7, 1849) was an American writer, poet, editor, and literary critic. Poe is best known for his poetry and short stories, particularly his tales of mystery and the macabre. He is wide ...
, which Baudelaire admired greatly and translated into French, were a significant influence and the source of many stock
tropes
Trope or tropes may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media
* Trope (cinema), a cinematic convention for conveying a concept
* Trope (literature), a figure of speech or common literary device
* Trope (music), any of a variety of different things ...
and images. The aesthetic was developed by
Stéphane Mallarmé
Stéphane Mallarmé ( , ; 18 March 1842 – 9 September 1898), pen name of Étienne Mallarmé, was a French poet and critic. He was a major French symbolist poet, and his work anticipated and inspired several revolutionary artistic schools of t ...
and
Paul Verlaine
Paul-Marie Verlaine (; ; 30 March 1844 – 8 January 1896) was a French poet associated with the Symbolist movement and the Decadent movement. He is considered one of the greatest representatives of the ''fin de siècle'' in international and F ...
during the 1860s and 1870s. In the 1880s, the aesthetic was articulated by a series of manifestos and attracted a generation of writers. The term "symbolist" was first applied by the critic
Jean Moréas
Jean Moréas (; born Ioannis A. Papadiamantopoulos, Ιωάννης Α. Παπαδιαμαντόπουλος; 15 April 1856 – 31 March 1910), was a Greek poet, essayist, and art critic, who wrote mostly in the French language but also in Greek du ...
, who invented the term to distinguish the Symbolists from the related
Decadents of literature and of art.
Etymology
The term ''symbolism'' is derived from the word "symbol" which derives from the
Latin
Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power ...
''symbolum'', a symbol of faith, and ''symbolus'', a sign of recognition, in turn from classical Greek σύμβολον ''symbolon'', an object cut in half constituting a sign of recognition when the carriers were able to reassemble the two-halves. In
ancient Greece
Ancient Greece ( el, Ἑλλάς, Hellás) was a northeastern Mediterranean civilization, existing from the Greek Dark Ages of the 12th–9th centuries BC to the end of classical antiquity ( AD 600), that comprised a loose collection of cult ...
, the ''symbolon'' was a shard of pottery which was inscribed and then broken into two pieces which were given to the ambassadors from two allied city states as a record of the alliance.
Precursors and origins
Symbolism was largely a reaction against naturalism and realism, anti-idealistic styles which were attempts to represent reality in its gritty particularity, and to elevate the humble and the ordinary over the ideal. Symbolism was a reaction in favour of
spirituality, the
imagination
Imagination is the production or simulation of novel objects, sensations, and ideas in the mind without any immediate input of the senses. Stefan Szczelkun characterises it as the forming of experiences in one's mind, which can be re-creations o ...
, and dreams. Some writers, such as
Joris-Karl Huysmans
Charles-Marie-Georges Huysmans (, ; 5 February 1848 – 12 May 1907) was a French novelist and art critic who published his works as Joris-Karl Huysmans (, variably abbreviated as J. K. or J.-K.). He is most famous for the novel '' À rebou ...
, began as naturalists before becoming symbolists; for Huysmans, this change represented his increasing interest in religion and spirituality. Certain of the characteristic subjects of the
Decadents represent naturalist interest in sexuality and taboo topics, but in their case this was mixed with
Byron
George Gordon Byron, 6th Baron Byron (22 January 1788 – 19 April 1824), known simply as Lord Byron, was an English romantic poet and peer. He was one of the leading figures of the Romantic movement, and has been regarded as among the ...
ic
romanticism
Romanticism (also known as the Romantic movement or Romantic era) was an artistic, literary, musical, and intellectual movement that originated in Europe towards the end of the 18th century, and in most areas was at its peak in the approximate ...
and the world-weariness characteristic of the ''
fin de siècle
() is a French term meaning "end of century,” a phrase which typically encompasses both the meaning of the similar English idiom "turn of the century" and also makes reference to the closing of one era and onset of another. Without context, ...
'' period.
The Symbolist poets have a more complex relationship with
Parnassianism
Parnassianism (or Parnassism) was a French literary style that began during the positivist period of the 19th century, occurring after romanticism and prior to symbolism. The style was influenced by the author Théophile Gautier as well as by t ...
, a French literary style that immediately preceded it. While being influenced by
hermeticism
Hermeticism, or Hermetism, is a philosophical system that is primarily based on the purported teachings of Hermes Trismegistus (a legendary Hellenistic combination of the Greek god Hermes and the Egyptian god Thoth). These teachings are containe ...
, allowing
freer versification, and rejecting Parnassian clarity and objectivity, it retained Parnassianism's love of
word play
Word play or wordplay (also: play-on-words) is a literary technique and a form of wit in which words used become the main subject of the work, primarily for the purpose of intended effect or amusement. Examples of word play include puns, pho ...
and concern for the musical qualities of verse. The Symbolists continued to admire
Théophile Gautier
Pierre Jules Théophile Gautier ( , ; 30 August 1811 – 23 October 1872) was a French poet, dramatist, novelist, journalist, and art and literary critic.
While an ardent defender of Romanticism, Gautier's work is difficult to classify and rem ...
's motto of "
art for art's sake
Art for art's sake—the usual English rendering of ''l'art pour l'art'' (), a French slogan from the latter part of the 19th century—is a phrase that expresses the philosophy that the intrinsic value of art, and the only 'true' art, is divo ...
", and retained – and modified – Parnassianism's mood of ironic detachment. Many Symbolist poets, including
Stéphane Mallarmé
Stéphane Mallarmé ( , ; 18 March 1842 – 9 September 1898), pen name of Étienne Mallarmé, was a French poet and critic. He was a major French symbolist poet, and his work anticipated and inspired several revolutionary artistic schools of t ...
and
Paul Verlaine
Paul-Marie Verlaine (; ; 30 March 1844 – 8 January 1896) was a French poet associated with the Symbolist movement and the Decadent movement. He is considered one of the greatest representatives of the ''fin de siècle'' in international and F ...
, published early works in ''
Le Parnasse contemporain
Le Parnasse contemporain ("The Contemporary Parnassus", e.g., the contemporary poetry scene) is composed of three volumes of poetry collections, published in 1866, 1871 and 1876 by the editor Alphonse Lemerre, which included a hundred French poets ...
'', the poetry anthologies that gave Parnassianism its name. But
Arthur Rimbaud
Jean Nicolas Arthur Rimbaud (, ; 20 October 1854 – 10 November 1891) was a French poet known for his transgressive and surreal themes and for his influence on modern literature and arts, prefiguring surrealism. Born in Charleville, he sta ...
publicly mocked prominent Parnassians and published scatological parodies of some of their main authors, including
François Coppée – misattributed to Coppée himself – in ''
L'Album zutique''.
One of Symbolism's most colourful promoters in Paris was art and literary critic (and
occult
The occult, in the broadest sense, is a category of esoteric supernatural beliefs and practices which generally fall outside the scope of religion and science, encompassing phenomena involving otherworldly agency, such as magic and mysticism ...
ist)
Joséphin Péladan, who established the
Salon de la Rose + Croix. The Salon hosted a series of six presentations of avant-garde art, writing and music during the 1890s, to give a presentation space for artists embracing spiritualism, mysticism, and idealism in their work. A number of Symbolists were associated with the Salon.
Movement
The Symbolist Manifesto
Jean Moréas
Jean Moréas (; born Ioannis A. Papadiamantopoulos, Ιωάννης Α. Παπαδιαμαντόπουλος; 15 April 1856 – 31 March 1910), was a Greek poet, essayist, and art critic, who wrote mostly in the French language but also in Greek du ...
published the
Symbolist Manifesto
The Symbolist Manifesto (French: ''Le Symbolisme'') was published on 18 September 1886 Lucie-Smith, Edward. (1972) ''Symbolist Art''. London: Thames & Hudson, p. 54. in the French newspaper ''Le Figaro'' by the Greek-born poet and essayist Jean M ...
("Le Symbolisme") in ''
Le Figaro
''Le Figaro'' () is a French daily morning newspaper founded in 1826. It is headquartered on Boulevard Haussmann in the 9th arrondissement of Paris. The oldest national newspaper in France, ''Le Figaro'' is one of three French Newspaper of recor ...
'' on 18 September 1886 (see
1886 in poetry
Nationality words link to articles with information on the nation's poetry or literature (for instance, Irish or France).
Events
* Frederick James Furnivall founds the Shelley Society
* September 18 – The "Symbolist Manifesto" (''Le Symbolisme ...
).
[Jean Moréas, ''Un Manifeste littéraire'', ''Le Symbolisme'', Le Figaro. Supplément Littéraire, No. 38, Saturday 18 September 1886, p. 150](_blank)
Bibliothèque nationale de France, Gallica The Symbolist Manifesto names
Charles Baudelaire
Charles Pierre Baudelaire (, ; ; 9 April 1821 – 31 August 1867) was a French poet who also produced notable work as an essayist and art critic. His poems exhibit mastery in the handling of rhyme and rhythm, contain an exoticism inherited ...
,
Stéphane Mallarmé
Stéphane Mallarmé ( , ; 18 March 1842 – 9 September 1898), pen name of Étienne Mallarmé, was a French poet and critic. He was a major French symbolist poet, and his work anticipated and inspired several revolutionary artistic schools of t ...
, and
Paul Verlaine
Paul-Marie Verlaine (; ; 30 March 1844 – 8 January 1896) was a French poet associated with the Symbolist movement and the Decadent movement. He is considered one of the greatest representatives of the ''fin de siècle'' in international and F ...
as the three leading poets of the movement. Moréas announced that symbolism was hostile to "plain meanings, declamations, false sentimentality and matter-of-fact description", and that its goal instead was to "clothe the Ideal in a perceptible form" whose "goal was not in itself, but whose sole purpose was to express the Ideal."
:''Ainsi, dans cet art, les tableaux de la nature, les actions des humains, tous les phénomènes concrets ne sauraient se manifester eux-mêmes; ce sont là des apparences sensibles destinées à représenter leurs affinités ésotériques avec des Idées primordiales.''
:(Thus, in this art movement, representations of nature, human activities and all real life events don't stand on their own; they are rather veiled reflections of the senses pointing to archetypal meanings through their esoteric connections.)
In a nutshell, as Mallarmé writes in a letter to his friend
Henri Cazalis, 'to depict not the thing but the effect it produces'.
Techniques
The symbolist poets wished to liberate techniques of versification in order to allow greater room for "fluidity", and as such were sympathetic with the trend toward
free verse
Free verse is an open form of poetry, which in its modern form arose through the French '' vers libre'' form. It does not use consistent meter patterns, rhyme, or any musical pattern. It thus tends to follow the rhythm of natural speech.
Defini ...
, as evident in the poems of
Gustave Kahn and
Ezra Pound
Ezra Weston Loomis Pound (30 October 1885 – 1 November 1972) was an expatriate American poet and critic, a major figure in the early modernist poetry movement, and a fascist collaborator in Italy during World War II. His works includ ...
. Symbolist poems were attempts to evoke, rather than primarily to describe; symbolic imagery was used to signify the state of the poet's
soul
In many religious and philosophical traditions, there is a belief that a soul is "the immaterial aspect or essence of a human being".
Etymology
The Modern English noun '':wikt:soul, soul'' is derived from Old English ''sāwol, sāwel''. The ea ...
.
T. S. Eliot
Thomas Stearns Eliot (26 September 18884 January 1965) was a poet, essayist, publisher, playwright, literary critic and editor.Bush, Ronald. "T. S. Eliot's Life and Career", in John A Garraty and Mark C. Carnes (eds), ''American National Biogr ...
was influenced by the poets
Jules Laforgue,
Paul Valéry
Ambroise Paul Toussaint Jules Valéry (; 30 October 1871 – 20 July 1945) was a French poet, essayist, and philosopher. In addition to his poetry and fiction (drama and dialogues), his interests included aphorisms on art, history, letters, mu ...
and
Arthur Rimbaud
Jean Nicolas Arthur Rimbaud (, ; 20 October 1854 – 10 November 1891) was a French poet known for his transgressive and surreal themes and for his influence on modern literature and arts, prefiguring surrealism. Born in Charleville, he sta ...
who used the techniques of the Symbolist school, though it has also been said that '
Imagism' was the style to which both Pound and Eliot subscribed (see Pound's ''Des Imagistes'').
Synesthesia
Synesthesia (American English) or synaesthesia (British English) is a perceptual phenomenon in which stimulation of one sensory or cognitive pathway leads to involuntary experiences in a second sensory or cognitive pathway. People who rep ...
was a prized experience; poets sought to identify and confound the separate senses of scent, sound, and colour. In
Baudelaire's poem ''Correspondences'' (which mentions ''forêts de symboles'' ("forests of symbols") and is considered the touchstone of French Symbolism):
:''Il est des parfums frais comme des chairs d'enfants,
Doux comme les hautbois, verts comme les prairies,
– Et d'autres, corrompus, riches et triomphants,
Ayant l'expansion des choses infinies,
Comme l'ambre, le musc, le benjoin et l'encens,
Qui chantent les transports de l'esprit et des sens.''
::(There are smells that are fresh like children's skin,
calm like oboes, green like meadows
– And others, rotten, heady, and triumphant,
having the expansiveness of infinite things,
like amber, musk, benzoin, and incense,
which sing of the raptures of the soul and senses.)
and
Rimbaud's poem ''
Voyelles'':
:''A noir, E blanc, I rouge, U vert, O bleu : voyelles…''
::(A black, E white, I red, U green, O blue: vowels…)
– both poets seek to identify one sense experience with another. The earlier
Romanticism
Romanticism (also known as the Romantic movement or Romantic era) was an artistic, literary, musical, and intellectual movement that originated in Europe towards the end of the 18th century, and in most areas was at its peak in the approximate ...
of poetry used
symbol
A symbol is a mark, sign, or word that indicates, signifies, or is understood as representing an idea, object, or relationship. Symbols allow people to go beyond what is known or seen by creating linkages between otherwise very different conc ...
s, but these symbols were unique and privileged objects. The symbolists were more extreme, investing all things, even vowels and perfumes, with potential symbolic value. "The physical universe, then, is a kind of language that invites a privileged spectator to decipher it, although this does not yield a single message so much as a superior network of associations." Symbolist symbols are not
allegories, intended to represent; they are instead intended to
evoke particular states of mind. The nominal subject of Mallarmé's "Le cygne" ("The
Swan
Swans are birds of the family Anatidae within the genus ''Cygnus''. The swans' closest relatives include the geese and ducks. Swans are grouped with the closely related geese in the subfamily Anserinae where they form the tribe Cygnini. Sometim ...
") is of a swan trapped in a frozen lake. Significantly, in French, ''
cygne
Cygne may refer to:
* La Cygne, Kansas, a city in Linn County, Kansas
* "Le cygne", a movement of ''The Carnival of the Animals'' by Camille Saint-Saëns
* ''Le Cygne'' (journal), a scholarly journal published by the International Marie de France ...
'' is a homophone of ''
signe
Signe or Signy is a feminine given name used in the Nordic and Baltic countries, derived from Old Norse ''sigr'' (victory) and ''nýr'' (new), which may refer to:
*Signe (Finnish princess), a legendary Finnish princess
*Signy, two heroines in N ...
'', a sign. The overall effect is of overwhelming whiteness; and the presentation of the narrative elements of the description is quite indirect:
:''Le vierge, le vivace, et le bel aujourd'hui
Va-t-il nous déchirer avec un coup d’aile ivre
Ce lac dur oublié que hante sous le givre
Le transparent glacier des vols qui n’ont pas fui!
Un cygne d’autrefois se souvient que c’est lui
Magnifique mais qui sans espoir se délivre…''
::(The virgin, lively, and beautiful today – will it tear us up with a drunken wingbeat this hard forgotten lake that lurks beneath the frost, the transparent glacier of flights not taken with a blow from a drunken wing? A swan of long ago remembers that it is he, magnificent but without hope, who breaks free…)
Paul Verlaine and the ''poètes maudits''
Of the several attempts at defining the essence of symbolism, perhaps none was more influential than
Paul Verlaine
Paul-Marie Verlaine (; ; 30 March 1844 – 8 January 1896) was a French poet associated with the Symbolist movement and the Decadent movement. He is considered one of the greatest representatives of the ''fin de siècle'' in international and F ...
's 1884 publication of a series of essays on
Tristan Corbière
Tristan Corbière (18 July 1845 – 1 March 1875), born Édouard-Joachim Corbière, was a French poet born in Coat-Congar, Ploujean (now part of Morlaix) in Brittany, where he lived most of his life before dying of tuberculosis at the age of 2 ...
,
Arthur Rimbaud
Jean Nicolas Arthur Rimbaud (, ; 20 October 1854 – 10 November 1891) was a French poet known for his transgressive and surreal themes and for his influence on modern literature and arts, prefiguring surrealism. Born in Charleville, he sta ...
,
Stéphane Mallarmé
Stéphane Mallarmé ( , ; 18 March 1842 – 9 September 1898), pen name of Étienne Mallarmé, was a French poet and critic. He was a major French symbolist poet, and his work anticipated and inspired several revolutionary artistic schools of t ...
,
Marceline Desbordes-Valmore,
Gérard de Nerval
Gérard de Nerval (; 22 May 1808 – 26 January 1855) was the pen name of the French writer, poet, and translator Gérard Labrunie, a major figure of French romanticism, best known for his novellas and poems, especially the collection '' Les F ...
, and "Pauvre Lelian" ("Poor Lelian", an anagram of Paul Verlaine's own name), each of whom Verlaine numbered among the ''
poètes maudits'', "accursed poets."

Verlaine argued that in their individual and very different ways, each of these hitherto neglected poets found
genius
Genius is a characteristic of original and exceptional insight in the performance of some art or endeavor that surpasses expectations, sets new standards for future works, establishes better methods of operation, or remains outside the capabilit ...
a curse; it isolated them from their contemporaries, and as a result these poets were not at all concerned to avoid
hermeticism
Hermeticism, or Hermetism, is a philosophical system that is primarily based on the purported teachings of Hermes Trismegistus (a legendary Hellenistic combination of the Greek god Hermes and the Egyptian god Thoth). These teachings are containe ...
and idiosyncratic writing styles. They were also portrayed as at odds with society, having tragic lives, and often given to self-destructive tendencies. These traits were not hindrances but consequences of their literary gifts. Verlaine's concept of the ''poète maudit'' in turn borrows from Baudelaire, who opened his collection ''
Les fleurs du mal
''Les Fleurs du mal'' (; en, The Flowers of Evil, italic=yes) is a volume of French poetry by Charles Baudelaire.
''Les Fleurs du mal'' includes nearly all Baudelaire's poetry, written from 1840 until his death in August 1867. First publis ...
'' with the poem ''
Bénédiction'', which describes a poet whose internal serenity remains undisturbed by the contempt of the people surrounding him.
In this conception of genius and the role of the poet, Verlaine referred indirectly to the
aesthetics
Aesthetics, or esthetics, is a branch of philosophy
Philosophy (from , ) is the systematized study of general and fundamental questions, such as those about existence, reason, Epistemology, knowledge, Ethics, values, Philosophy of ...
of
Arthur Schopenhauer
Arthur Schopenhauer ( , ; 22 February 1788 – 21 September 1860) was a German philosopher. He is best known for his 1818 work '' The World as Will and Representation'' (expanded in 1844), which characterizes the phenomenal world as the pr ...
, the philosopher of
pessimism
Pessimism is a negative mental attitude in which an undesirable outcome is anticipated from a given situation. Pessimists tend to focus on the negatives of life in general. A common question asked to test for pessimism is " Is the glass half emp ...
, who maintained that the purpose of art was to provide a temporary refuge from the world of strife of the
will.
[Delvaille, Bernard, ''La poésie symboliste: anthologie'', introduction. ]
Philosophy
Schopenhauer's aesthetics represented shared concerns with the symbolist programme; they both tended to consider Art as a contemplative refuge from the world of strife and
will. As a result of this desire for an artistic refuge, the symbolists used characteristic themes of
mysticism
Mysticism is popularly known as becoming one with God or the Absolute, but may refer to any kind of ecstasy or altered state of consciousness which is given a religious or spiritual meaning. It may also refer to the attainment of insight in u ...
and otherworldliness, a keen sense of
mortality, and a sense of the malign power of
sexuality
Human sexuality is the way people experience and express themselves sexually. This involves biological, psychological, physical, erotic, emotional, social, or spiritual feelings and behaviors. Because it is a broad term, which has varied wi ...
, which
Albert Samain termed a "fruit of death upon the tree of life." Mallarmé's poem ''Les fenêtres'' expresses all of these themes clearly. A dying man in a hospital bed, seeking escape from the pain and dreariness of his physical surroundings, turns toward his window but then turns away in disgust from

:''… l'homme à l'âme dure
Vautré dans le bonheur, où ses seuls appétits
Mangent, et qui s'entête à chercher cette ordure
Pour l'offrir à la femme allaitant ses petits, …''
::(… the hard-souled man,
Wallowing in happiness, where only his appetites
Feed, and who insists on seeking out this filth
To offer to the wife suckling his children, …)
and in contrast, he "turns his back on life" (''tourne l’épaule à la vie'') and he exclaims:
:''Je me mire et me vois ange! Et je meurs, et j'aime
– Que la vitre soit l'art, soit la mysticité –
A renaître, portant mon rêve en diadème,
Au ciel antérieur où fleurit la Beauté!''
::(I look at myself and I seem like an angel! and I die, and I love
– Whether the mirror might be art, or mysticism –
To be reborn, bearing my dream as a crown,
Under that former sky where Beauty flourishes!)
Symbolists and decadents
The symbolist style has frequently been confused with the
Decadent movement
The Decadent movement (Fr. ''décadence'', “decay”) was a late-19th-century artistic and literary movement, centered in Western Europe, that followed an aesthetic ideology of excess and artificiality.
The Decadent movement first flourished ...
, the name derived from French literary critics in the 1880s, suggesting the writers were self indulgent and obsessed with taboo subjects. While a few writers embraced the term, most avoided it. Jean Moréas'
manifesto
A manifesto is a published declaration of the intentions, motives, or views of the issuer, be it an individual, group, political party or government. A manifesto usually accepts a previously published opinion or public consensus or promotes a ...
was largely a response to this polemic. By the late 1880s, the terms "symbolism" and "decadence" were understood to be almost synonymous. Though the aesthetics of the styles can be considered similar in some ways, the two remain distinct. The symbolists were those artists who emphasized dreams and ideals; the Decadents cultivated ''
précieux'', ornamented, or
hermetic styles, and
morbid
A disease is a particular abnormal condition that negatively affects the structure or function of all or part of an organism, and that is not immediately due to any external injury. Diseases are often known to be medical conditions that ...
subject matters. The subject of
the decadence of the Roman Empire was a frequent source of literary images and appears in the works of many poets of the period, regardless of which name they chose for their style, as in Verlaine's "''Langueur''":
:''Je suis l'Empire à la fin de la Décadence,
Qui regarde passer les grands Barbares blancs
En composant des acrostiches indolents
D'un style d'or où la langueur du soleil danse.''
::(I am the Empire at the endgame of decadence, watching the great pale barbarians passing by, all the while composing lazy acrostic poems in a gilded style where the languishing sun dances.)
Periodical literature

A number of important literary publications were founded by symbolists or became associated with the style. The first was ''
La Vogue'' initiated in April 1886. In October of that same year,
Jean Moréas
Jean Moréas (; born Ioannis A. Papadiamantopoulos, Ιωάννης Α. Παπαδιαμαντόπουλος; 15 April 1856 – 31 March 1910), was a Greek poet, essayist, and art critic, who wrote mostly in the French language but also in Greek du ...
,
Gustave Kahn, and
Paul Adam began the periodical ''
Le Symboliste''. One of the most important symbolist journals was ''
Mercure de France
The was originally a French gazette and literary magazine first published in the 17th century, but after several incarnations has evolved as a publisher, and is now part of the Éditions Gallimard publishing group.
The gazette was published f ...
'', edited by
Alfred Vallette, which succeeded ''La Pléiade''; founded in 1890, this periodical endured until 1965.
Pierre Louÿs initiated ''
La conque'', a periodical whose symbolist influences were alluded to by
Jorge Luis Borges
Jorge Francisco Isidoro Luis Borges Acevedo (; ; 24 August 1899 – 14 June 1986) was an Argentine short-story writer, essayist, poet and translator, as well as a key figure in Spanish-language and international literature. His best-known b ...
in his story ''
Pierre Menard, Author of the Quixote''. Other symbolist literary magazines included ''
La Revue blanche
''La Revue blanche'' was a French art and literary magazine run between 1889 and 1903. Some of the greatest writers and artists of the time were its collaborators.
History
The ''Revue blanche'' was founded in Liège in 1889 and run by the Natans ...
'', ''
La Revue wagnérienne'', ''
La Plume'' and ''
La Wallonie''.
Rémy de Gourmont and
Félix Fénéon were
literary critics associated with symbolism. The symbolist and decadent literary styles were
satirized
Satire is a genre of the visual, literary, and performing arts, usually in the form of fiction and less frequently non-fiction, in which vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, often with the intent of shaming or ...
by a book of poetry, ''Les Déliquescences d'
Adoré Floupette Adoré Floupette is the collective pseudonym of French authors Henri Beauclair and Gabriel Vicaire used for their 1885 literary spoof titled ''Les Déliquescences d'Adoré Floupette'', a collection of poems satirising French symbolism and the Decad ...
'', published in 1885 by
Henri Beauclair and
Gabriel Vicaire.
In other media
Visual arts

Symbolism in literature is distinct from symbolism in art although the two were similar in many aspects. In painting, symbolism can be seen as a revival of some mystical tendencies in the
Romantic tradition, and was close to the self-consciously morbid and private
decadent movement
The Decadent movement (Fr. ''décadence'', “decay”) was a late-19th-century artistic and literary movement, centered in Western Europe, that followed an aesthetic ideology of excess and artificiality.
The Decadent movement first flourished ...
.
There were several rather dissimilar groups of Symbolist painters and visual artists, which included
Paul Gauguin
Eugène Henri Paul Gauguin (, ; ; 7 June 1848 – 8 May 1903) was a French Post-Impressionist artist. Unappreciated until after his death, Gauguin is now recognized for his experimental use of colour and Synthetist style that were distinct fr ...
,
Gustave Moreau
Gustave Moreau (; 6 April 1826 – 18 April 1898) was a French artist and an important figure in the Symbolist movement. Jean Cassou called him "the Symbolist painter par excellence".Cassou, Jean. 1979. ''The Concise Encyclopedia of Symbolism.' ...
,
Gustav Klimt
Gustav Klimt (July 14, 1862 – February 6, 1918) was an Austrian symbolist painter and one of the most prominent members of the Vienna Secession movement. Klimt is noted for his paintings, murals, sketches, and other objets d'art. Klimt's p ...
,
Mikalojus Konstantinas Čiurlionis,
Jacek Malczewski,
Odilon Redon,
Pierre Puvis de Chavannes,
Henri Fantin-Latour
Henri Fantin-Latour (14 January 1836 – 25 August 1904) was a French painter and lithographer best known for his flower paintings and group portraits of Parisian artists and writers.
Biography
He was born Ignace Henri Jean Théodore Fantin-Lat ...
,
Gaston Bussière,
Edvard Munch
Edvard Munch ( , ; 12 December 1863 – 23 January 1944) was a Norwegian painter. His best known work, '' The Scream'' (1893), has become one of Western art's most iconic images.
His childhood was overshadowed by illness, bereavement and the d ...
,
Fernand Khnopff
Fernand Edmond Jean Marie Khnopff (12 September 1858 – 12 November 1921) was a Belgian symbolist painter.
Life Youth and training
Fernand Khnopff was born to a wealthy family that was part of the high bourgeoisie for generations. Khnopff ...
,
Félicien Rops
Félicien Victor Joseph Rops (7 July 1833 – 23 August 1898) was a Belgian artist associated with Symbolism and the Parisian Fin-de Siecle. He was a painter, illustrator, caricaturist and a prolific and innovative print maker, particularly in ...
, and
Jan Toorop
Johannes Theodorus 'Jan' Toorop[Jan Toorop]
Mikhail Vrubel
Mikhail Aleksandrovich Vrubel (russian: Михаил Александрович Врубель; March 17, 1856 – April 14, 1910, all n.s.) was a Russian painter, draughtsman, and sculptor. A prolific and innovative master in various med ...
,
Nicholas Roerich
Nicholas Roerich (; October 9, 1874 – December 13, 1947), also known as Nikolai Konstantinovich Rerikh (russian: link=no, Никола́й Константи́нович Ре́рих), was a Russian painter, writer, archaeologist, theosoph ...
,
Victor Borisov-Musatov,
Martiros Saryan
Martiros Saryan ( hy, Մարտիրոս Սարյան; russian: Мартиро́с Сарья́н; – 5 May 1972) was a Soviet Armenian painter, the founder of a modern Armenian national school of painting.
Biography
He was born into an Armenia ...
,
Mikhail Nesterov,
Léon Bakst
Léon Bakst (russian: Леон (Лев) Николаевич Бакст, Leon (Lev) Nikolaevich Bakst) – born as Leyb-Khaim Izrailevich (later Samoylovich) Rosenberg, Лейб-Хаим Израилевич (Самойлович) Розенбе ...
,
Elena Gorokhova
Elena Konstantinovna Gorokhova (russian: link=no, Еле́на Константи́новна Горо́хова; 19 February 1933 – 15 January 2014) was a Russian painter, living and working in Saint Petersburg, regarded as one of representat ...
in Russia, as well as
Frida Kahlo
Magdalena Carmen Frida Kahlo y Calderón (; 6 July 1907 – 13 July 1954) was a Mexican painter known for her many portraits, self-portraits, and works inspired by the nature and artifacts of Mexico. Inspired by Culture of Mexico, the country's ...
in Mexico,
Elihu Vedder,
Remedios Varo,
Morris Graves and David Chetlahe Paladin in the United States.
Auguste Rodin is sometimes considered a symbolist sculptor.
The symbolist painters used mythological and dream imagery. The symbols used by symbolism are not the familiar
emblem
An emblem is an abstract or representational pictorial image that represents a concept, like a moral truth, or an allegory, or a person, like a king or saint.
Emblems vs. symbols
Although the words ''emblem'' and ''symbol'' are often used in ...
s of mainstream
iconography
Iconography, as a branch of art history, studies the identification, description and interpretation of the content of images: the subjects depicted, the particular compositions and details used to do so, and other elements that are distinct fro ...
but intensely personal, private, obscure and ambiguous references. More a philosophy than an actual style of art, symbolism in painting influenced the contemporary
Art Nouveau
Art Nouveau (; ) is an international style of art, architecture, and applied art, especially the decorative arts. The style is known by different names in different languages: in German, in Italian, in Catalan, and also known as the Moder ...
style and
Les Nabis
Les Nabis (French: les nabis, ) were a group of young French artists active in Paris from 1888 until 1900, who played a large part in the transition from impressionism and academic art to abstract art, symbolism and the other early movements of ...
.
Music
Symbolism had some influence on music as well. Many symbolist writers and critics were early enthusiasts of the music of
Richard Wagner
Wilhelm Richard Wagner ( ; ; 22 May 181313 February 1883) was a German composer, theatre director, polemicist, and conductor who is chiefly known for his operas (or, as some of his mature works were later known, "music dramas"). Unlike most o ...
, an avid reader of Schopenhauer.

The symbolist aesthetic affected the works of
Claude Debussy
(Achille) Claude Debussy (; 22 August 1862 – 25 March 1918) was a French composer. He is sometimes seen as the first Impressionism in music, Impressionist composer, although he vigorously rejected the term. He was among the most infl ...
. His choices of ''
libretti
A libretto (Italian for "booklet") is the text used in, or intended for, an extended musical work such as an opera, operetta, masque, oratorio, cantata or Musical theatre, musical. The term ''libretto'' is also sometimes used to refer to the t ...
'', texts, and themes come almost exclusively from the symbolist canon. Compositions such as his settings of ''
Cinq poèmes de Charles Baudelaire'', various
art songs
An art song is a Western world, Western vocal music Musical composition, composition, usually written for one voice with piano accompaniment, and usually in the classical music, classical art music tradition. By extension, the term "art song" is ...
on poems by Verlaine, the opera ''
Pelléas et Mélisande'' with a libretto by
Maurice Maeterlinck
Maurice Polydore Marie Bernard Maeterlinck (29 August 1862 – 6 May 1949), also known as Count (or Comte) Maeterlinck from 1932, was a Belgian playwright, poet, and essayist who was Flemish but wrote in French. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in ...
, and his unfinished sketches that illustrate two Poe stories, ''
The Devil in the Belfry
"The Devil in the Belfry" is a satirical short story by Edgar Allan Poe. It was first published in 1839.
Plot summary
In an isolated town called Vondervotteimittiss (wonder-what-time-it-is), the punctilious inhabitants seem to be concerned with ...
'' and ''
The Fall of the House of Usher'', all indicate that Debussy was profoundly influenced by symbolist themes and tastes. His best known work, the ''
Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune
''Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune'' ( L. 86), known in English as ''Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun'', is a symphonic poem for orchestra by Claude Debussy, approximately 10 minutes in duration. It was composed in 1894 and first performed ...
'', was inspired by Mallarmé's poem, ''
L'après-midi d'un faune''.
The symbolist aesthetic also influenced
Aleksandr Scriabin
Alexander Nikolayevich Scriabin (; russian: Александр Николаевич Скрябин ; – ) was a Russian composer and virtuoso pianist. Before 1903, Scriabin was greatly influenced by the music of Frédéric Chopin and composed ...
's compositions.
Arnold Schoenberg
Arnold Schoenberg or Schönberg (, ; ; 13 September 187413 July 1951) was an Austrian-American composer, music theorist, teacher, writer, and painter. He is widely considered one of the most influential composers of the 20th century. He was as ...
's ''
Pierrot Lunaire'' takes its text from German translations of the symbolist poems by
Albert Giraud, showing an association between German expressionism and symbolism.
Richard Strauss
Richard Georg Strauss (; 11 June 1864 – 8 September 1949) was a German composer, conductor, pianist, and violinist. Considered a leading composer of the late Romantic music, Romantic and early Modernism (music), modern eras, he has been descr ...
's 1905 opera ''
Salomé'', based on the play by
Oscar Wilde
Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde (16 October 185430 November 1900) was an Irish poet and playwright. After writing in different forms throughout the 1880s, he became one of the most popular playwrights in London in the early 1890s. He is ...
, uses a subject frequently depicted by symbolist artists.
Prose fiction
Symbolism's style of the
static and
hieratic adapted less well to narrative fiction than it did to poetry.
Joris-Karl Huysmans
Charles-Marie-Georges Huysmans (, ; 5 February 1848 – 12 May 1907) was a French novelist and art critic who published his works as Joris-Karl Huysmans (, variably abbreviated as J. K. or J.-K.). He is most famous for the novel '' À rebou ...
' 1884 novel ''
À rebours'' (English title: ''Against Nature'' or ''Against the Grain'') explored many themes that became associated with the symbolist aesthetic. This novel, in which very little happens, catalogues the psychology of Des Esseintes, an eccentric, reclusive
antihero
An antihero (sometimes spelled as anti-hero) or antiheroine is a main character in a story who may lack conventional heroic qualities and attributes, such as idealism, courage, and morality. Although antiheroes may sometimes perform action ...
.
Oscar Wilde
Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde (16 October 185430 November 1900) was an Irish poet and playwright. After writing in different forms throughout the 1880s, he became one of the most popular playwrights in London in the early 1890s. He is ...
was influenced by the novel as he wrote ''
Salome
Salome (; he, שְלוֹמִית, Shlomit, related to , "peace"; el, Σαλώμη), also known as Salome III, was a Jewish princess, the daughter of Herod II, son of Herod the Great, and princess Herodias, granddaughter of Herod the Great, a ...
'', and Huysman's book appears in ''
The Picture of Dorian Gray
''The Picture of Dorian Gray'' is a philosophical fiction, philosophical novel by Irish writer Oscar Wilde. A shorter novella-length version was published in the July 1890 issue of the American periodical ''Lippincott's Monthly Magazine''.''Th ...
'': the titular character becomes corrupted after reading the book.
Paul Adam was the most prolific and representative author of symbolist novels. ''Les Demoiselles Goubert'' (1886), co-written with
Jean Moréas
Jean Moréas (; born Ioannis A. Papadiamantopoulos, Ιωάννης Α. Παπαδιαμαντόπουλος; 15 April 1856 – 31 March 1910), was a Greek poet, essayist, and art critic, who wrote mostly in the French language but also in Greek du ...
, is an important transitional work between
naturalism and symbolism. Few symbolists used this form. One exception was
Gustave Kahn, who published ''Le Roi fou'' in 1896. In 1892,
Georges Rodenbach
Georges Raymond Constantin Rodenbach (16 July 1855 – 25 December 1898) was a Belgian Symbolist poet and novelist.
Biography
Georges Rodenbach was born in Tournai to a French mother and a German father from the Rhineland ( Andernach). He was ...
wrote the short novel ''
Bruges-la-morte'', set in the Flemish town of
Bruges
Bruges ( , nl, Brugge ) is the capital and largest city
A city is a human settlement of notable size.Goodall, B. (1987) ''The Penguin Dictionary of Human Geography''. London: Penguin.Kuper, A. and Kuper, J., eds (1996) ''The Social Scienc ...
, which Rodenbach described as a dying, medieval city of mourning and quiet contemplation: in a typically symbolist juxtaposition, the dead city contrasts with the diabolical re-awakening of sexual desire. The cynical, misanthropic, misogynistic fiction of
Jules Barbey d'Aurevilly is sometimes considered symbolist, as well.
Gabriele d'Annunzio wrote his first novels in the symbolist manner.
Theatre

The characteristic emphasis on an internal life of dreams and fantasies have made symbolist theatre difficult to reconcile with more recent trends.
Auguste Villiers de l'Isle-Adam
Jean-Marie-Mathias-Philippe-Auguste, comte de Villiers de l'Isle-Adam (7 November 1838 – 19 August 1889) was a French symbolist writer. His family called him Mathias while his friends called him Villiers; he would also use the name Auguste wh ...
's drama ''
Axël'' (rev. ed. 1890) is a definitive symbolist play. In it, two
Rosicrucian
Rosicrucianism is a spiritual and cultural movement that arose in Europe in the early 17th century after the publication of several texts purported to announce the existence of a hitherto unknown esoteric order to the world and made seeking i ...
aristocrats become enamored of each other while trying to kill each other, only to agree to commit suicide mutually because nothing in life could equal their fantasies. From this play,
Edmund Wilson
Edmund Wilson Jr. (May 8, 1895 – June 12, 1972) was an American writer and literary critic who explored Freudian and Marxist themes. He influenced many American authors, including F. Scott Fitzgerald, whose unfinished work he edited for publ ...
adopted the title ''Axel's Castle'' for his influential study of the symbolist literary aftermath.
Maurice Maeterlinck
Maurice Polydore Marie Bernard Maeterlinck (29 August 1862 – 6 May 1949), also known as Count (or Comte) Maeterlinck from 1932, was a Belgian playwright, poet, and essayist who was Flemish but wrote in French. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in ...
, also a symbolist playwright, wrote ''
The Blind'' (1890), ''The Intruder'' (1890), ''Interior'' (1891), ''
Pelléas and Mélisande'' (1892), and ''
The Blue Bird'' (1908).
Eugénio de Castro
Eugénio de Castro e Almeida (March 4, 1869 in Coimbra, Portugal – August 17, 1944) was a Portuguese writer and a poet. He was a professor at the Faculty of Letters at the University of Coimbra and attended Escola Normal Superior in ...
is considered one of the introducers of Symbolism in the
Iberian Peninsula
The Iberian Peninsula (),
**
* Aragonese and Occitan: ''Peninsula Iberica''
**
**
* french: Péninsule Ibérique
* mwl, Península Eibérica
* eu, Iberiar penintsula also known as Iberia, is a peninsula in southwestern Europe, defi ...
. He wrote ''Belkiss'', "dramatic prose-poem" as he called it, about the doomed passion of Belkiss,
The Queen of Sheba
The Queen of Sheba ( he, מַלְכַּת שְׁבָא, Malkaṯ Šəḇāʾ; ar, ملكة سبأ, Malikat Sabaʾ; gez, ንግሥተ ሳባ, Nəgśətä Saba) is a figure first mentioned in the Hebrew Bible. In the original story, she brin ...
, to Solomon, depicting in an avant-garde and violent style the psychological tension and recreating very accurately the tenth century BC Israel. He also wrote ''King Galaor'' and ''Polycrates' Ring'', being one of the most prolific Symbolist theoriticians.
Lugné-Poe (1869–1940) was an actor, director, and theatre producer of the late nineteenth century. Lugné-Poe "sought to create a unified nonrealistic theatre of poetry and dreams through atmospheric staging and stylized acting".
Upon learning about symbolist theatre, he never wanted to practice any other form. After beginning as an actor in the
Théâtre Libre and Théâtre d'Art, Lugné-Poe grasped on to the symbolist movement and founded the
Théâtre de l'Œuvre where he was manager from 1892 until 1929. Some of his greatest successes include opening his own symbolist theatre, producing the first staging of
Alfred Jarry's ''
Ubu Roi'' (1896), and introducing French theatregoers to playwrights such as
Ibsen
Henrik Johan Ibsen (; ; 20 March 1828 – 23 May 1906) was a Norwegian playwright and theatre director. As one of the founders of modernism in theatre, Ibsen is often referred to as "the father of realism" and one of the most influential playw ...
and
Strindberg
Johan August Strindberg (, ; 22 January 184914 May 1912) was a Swedish people, Swedish playwright, novelist, poet, essayist and painter.Lane (1998), 1040. A prolific writer who often drew directly on his personal experience, Strindberg wrote mo ...
.
The later works of the Russian playwright
Anton Chekhov
Anton Pavlovich Chekhov (; 29 January 1860Old Style date 17 January. – 15 July 1904Old Style date 2 July.) was a Russian playwright and short-story writer who is considered to be one of the greatest writers of all time. His career a ...
have been identified by essayist
Paul Schmidt as being much influenced by symbolist pessimism. Both
Konstantin Stanislavski
Konstantin Sergeyevich Stanislavski ( Alekseyev; russian: Константин Сергеевич Станиславский, p=kənstɐnʲˈtʲin sʲɪrˈgʲejɪvʲɪtɕ stənʲɪˈslafskʲɪj; 7 August 1938) was a seminal Soviet Russian th ...
and
Vsevolod Meyerhold
Vsevolod Emilyevich Meyerhold (russian: Всеволод Эмильевич Мейерхольд, translit=Vsévolod Èmíl'evič Mejerchól'd; born german: Karl Kasimir Theodor Meyerhold; 2 February 1940) was a Russian and Soviet theatre ...
experimented with symbolist modes of staging in their theatrical endeavors.
Drama by symbolist authors formed an important part of the repertoire of the ''
Théâtre de l'Œuvre'' and the ''
Théâtre d'Art''.
Effect
Among English-speaking artists, the closest counterpart to symbolism was
aestheticism. The
Pre-Raphaelite
The Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood (later known as the Pre-Raphaelites) was a group of English painters, poets, and art critics, founded in 1848 by William Holman Hunt, John Everett Millais, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, William Michael Rossetti, Jame ...
s were contemporaries of the earlier symbolists, and have much in common with them. Symbolism had a significant influence on
modernism
Modernism is both a philosophical and arts movement that arose from broad transformations in Western society during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The movement reflected a desire for the creation of new forms of art, philosophy, ...
(
Remy de Gourmont considered the
Imagists were its descendants) and its traces can also be detected in the work of many modernist poets, including
T. S. Eliot
Thomas Stearns Eliot (26 September 18884 January 1965) was a poet, essayist, publisher, playwright, literary critic and editor.Bush, Ronald. "T. S. Eliot's Life and Career", in John A Garraty and Mark C. Carnes (eds), ''American National Biogr ...
,
Wallace Stevens
Wallace Stevens (October 2, 1879 – August 2, 1955) was an American modernist poet. He was born in Reading, Pennsylvania, educated at Harvard and then New York Law School, and spent most of his life working as an executive for an insurance comp ...
,
Conrad Aiken,
Hart Crane
Harold Hart Crane (July 21, 1899 – April 27, 1932) was an American poet. Provoked and inspired by T. S. Eliot, Crane wrote modernist poetry that was difficult, highly stylized, and ambitious in its scope. In his most ambitious work, ''The Bridge ...
, and
W. B. Yeats in the anglophone tradition and
Rubén Darío
Félix Rubén García Sarmiento (January 18, 1867 – February 6, 1916), known as Rubén Darío ( , ), was a Nicaraguan poet who initiated the Spanish-language literary movement known as '' modernismo'' (modernism) that flourished at the end of ...
in Hispanic literature. The early poems of
Guillaume Apollinaire
Guillaume Apollinaire) of the Wąż coat of arms. (; 26 August 1880 – 9 November 1918) was a French French poetry, poet, playwright, short story writer, novelist, and art critic of Polish-Belarusian, Polish descent.
Apollinaire is considered ...
have strong affinities with symbolism. Early Portuguese Modernism was heavily influenced by Symbolist poets, especially
Camilo Pessanha
Camilo de Almeida Pessanha (7 September 1867 – 1 March 1926) was a Portuguese symbolist poet.
Biography
Early years
Camilo de Almeida Pessanha was born the illegitimate son of Francisco António de Almeida Pessanha, an aristocratic law st ...
;
Fernando Pessoa
Fernando António Nogueira Pessoa (; 13 June 1888 – 30 November 1935) was a Portuguese poet, writer, literary critic, translator, publisher, and philosopher, described as one of the most significant literary figures of the 20th century an ...
had many affinities to Symbolism, such as mysticism, musical versification, subjectivism and transcendentalism.
Edmund Wilson
Edmund Wilson Jr. (May 8, 1895 – June 12, 1972) was an American writer and literary critic who explored Freudian and Marxist themes. He influenced many American authors, including F. Scott Fitzgerald, whose unfinished work he edited for publ ...
's 1931 study ''Axel's Castle'' focuses on the continuity with symbolism and several important writers of the early twentieth century, with a particular emphasis on Yeats, Eliot,
Paul Valéry
Ambroise Paul Toussaint Jules Valéry (; 30 October 1871 – 20 July 1945) was a French poet, essayist, and philosopher. In addition to his poetry and fiction (drama and dialogues), his interests included aphorisms on art, history, letters, mu ...
,
Marcel Proust
Valentin Louis Georges Eugène Marcel Proust (; ; 10 July 1871 – 18 November 1922) was a French novelist, critic, and essayist who wrote the monumental novel '' In Search of Lost Time'' (''À la recherche du temps perdu''; with the previous En ...
,
James Joyce
James Augustine Aloysius Joyce (2 February 1882 – 13 January 1941) was an Irish novelist, poet, and literary critic. He contributed to the Modernism, modernist avant-garde movement and is regarded as one of the most influential and important ...
, and
Gertrude Stein
Gertrude Stein (February 3, 1874 – July 27, 1946) was an American novelist, poet, playwright, and art collector. Born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in the Allegheny West (Pittsburgh), Allegheny West neighborhood and raised in Oakland, Calif ...
. Wilson concluded that the symbolists represented a dreaming retreat into
things that are dying–the whole belle-lettristic tradition of Renaissance culture perhaps, compelled to specialize more and more, more and more driven in on itself, as industrialism and democratic education have come to press it closer and closer.''

After the beginning of the 20th century, symbolism had a major effect on
Russian poetry
This is a list of authors who have written poetry in the Russian language.
Alphabetical list
A
B
C
D
E
F
G
I
K
L
M
N
O
P
R
S
T
U
V
Y
Z
Sources
See also
* List of Russian archite ...
even as it became less popular in France. Russian symbolism, steeped in the doctrines of
Eastern Orthodoxy
Eastern Orthodoxy, also known as Eastern Orthodox Christianity, is one of the three main branches of Chalcedonian Christianity, alongside Catholicism and Protestantism.
Like the Pentarchy of the first millennium, the mainstream (or " canonica ...
and the spiritual ideas of
Vladimir Solovyov, had little in common with the French style of the same name. It began the careers of several major poets such as
Alexander Blok
Alexander Alexandrovich Blok ( rus, Алекса́ндр Алекса́ндрович Бло́к, p=ɐlʲɪˈksandr ɐlʲɪˈksandrəvʲɪtɕ ˈblok, a=Ru-Alyeksandr Alyeksandrovich Blok.oga; 7 August 1921) was a Russian lyrical poet, writer, publ ...
,
Andrei Bely, and
Marina Tsvetaeva. Bely's novel ''Petersburg'' (1912) is considered the greatest example of Russian symbolist prose.
Primary influences on the style of
Russian Symbolism were the
irrationalistic and
mystical
Mysticism is popularly known as becoming one with God or the Absolute, but may refer to any kind of ecstasy or altered state of consciousness which is given a religious or spiritual meaning. It may also refer to the attainment of insight in u ...
poetry and philosophy of
Fyodor Tyutchev and Solovyov, the novels of
Fyodor Dostoyevsky
Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky (, ; rus, Фёдор Михайлович Достоевский, Fyódor Mikháylovich Dostoyévskiy, p=ˈfʲɵdər mʲɪˈxajləvʲɪdʑ dəstɐˈjefskʲɪj, a=ru-Dostoevsky.ogg, links=yes; 11 November 18219 ...
, the operas of
Richard Wagner
Wilhelm Richard Wagner ( ; ; 22 May 181313 February 1883) was a German composer, theatre director, polemicist, and conductor who is chiefly known for his operas (or, as some of his mature works were later known, "music dramas"). Unlike most o ...
,
the philosophy of
Arthur Schopenhauer
Arthur Schopenhauer ( , ; 22 February 1788 – 21 September 1860) was a German philosopher. He is best known for his 1818 work '' The World as Will and Representation'' (expanded in 1844), which characterizes the phenomenal world as the pr ...
and
Friedrich Nietzsche
Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche (; or ; 15 October 1844 – 25 August 1900) was a German philosopher, prose poet, cultural critic, philologist, and composer whose work has exerted a profound influence on contemporary philosophy. He began his c ...
, French symbolist and decadent poets (such as
Stéphane Mallarmé
Stéphane Mallarmé ( , ; 18 March 1842 – 9 September 1898), pen name of Étienne Mallarmé, was a French poet and critic. He was a major French symbolist poet, and his work anticipated and inspired several revolutionary artistic schools of t ...
,
Paul Verlaine
Paul-Marie Verlaine (; ; 30 March 1844 – 8 January 1896) was a French poet associated with the Symbolist movement and the Decadent movement. He is considered one of the greatest representatives of the ''fin de siècle'' in international and F ...
and
Charles Baudelaire
Charles Pierre Baudelaire (, ; ; 9 April 1821 – 31 August 1867) was a French poet who also produced notable work as an essayist and art critic. His poems exhibit mastery in the handling of rhyme and rhythm, contain an exoticism inherited ...
), and the dramas of
Henrik Ibsen
Henrik Johan Ibsen (; ; 20 March 1828 – 23 May 1906) was a Norwegian playwright and theatre director. As one of the founders of modernism in theatre, Ibsen is often referred to as "the father of realism" and one of the most influential pla ...
.
The style was largely inaugurated by
Nikolai Minsky
Nikolai Minsky and Nikolai Maksimovich Minsky (russian: Никола́й Макси́мович Ми́нский) are pseudonyms of Nikolai Maksimovich Vilenkin (Виле́нкин; 1855–1937), a mystical writer and poet of the Silver Age of Ru ...
's article ''The Ancient Debate'' (1884) and
Dmitry Merezhkovsky's book ''On the Causes of the Decline and on the New Trends in Contemporary Russian Literature'' (1892). Both writers promoted extreme
individualism
Individualism is the moral stance, political philosophy, ideology and social outlook that emphasizes the intrinsic worth of the individual. Individualists promote the exercise of one's goals and desires and to value independence and self-relia ...
and the act of creation.
Merezhkovsky
Dmitry Sergeyevich Merezhkovsky ( rus, Дми́трий Серге́евич Мережко́вский, p=ˈdmʲitrʲɪj sʲɪrˈɡʲejɪvʲɪtɕ mʲɪrʲɪˈʂkofskʲɪj; – December 9, 1941) was a Russian novelist, poet, religious thinker, ...
was known for his poetry as well as a series of novels on ''god-men'', among whom he counted Christ,
Joan of Arc
Joan of Arc (french: link=yes, Jeanne d'Arc, translit= �an daʁk} ; 1412 – 30 May 1431) is a patron saint of France, honored as a defender of the French nation for her role in the siege of Orléans and her insistence on the corona ...
,
Dante
Dante Alighieri (; – 14 September 1321), probably baptized Durante di Alighiero degli Alighieri and often referred to as Dante (, ), was an Italian poet, writer and philosopher. His '' Divine Comedy'', originally called (modern Italian: ...
,
Leonardo da Vinci
Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci (15 April 14522 May 1519) was an Italian polymath of the High Renaissance who was active as a painter, Drawing, draughtsman, engineer, scientist, theorist, sculptor, and architect. While his fame initially re ...
,
Napoleon, and (later)
Hitler
Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Germany from 1933 until his death in 1945. He rose to power as the leader of the Nazi Party, becoming the chancellor in 1933 and the ...
. His wife,
Zinaida Gippius
Zinaida Nikolayevna Gippius (Hippius) (; – 9 September 1945) was a Russian poet, playwright, novelist, editor and religious thinker, one of the major figures in Russian symbolism. The story of her marriage to Dmitry Merezhkovsky, which lasted ...
, also a major poet of early symbolism, opened a salon in
St Petersburg, which came to be known as the "headquarters of Russian decadence".
Andrei Bely's
Petersburg (novel) a portrait of the social strata of the Russian capital, is frequently cited as a late example of Symbolism in 20th century Russian literature.
In
Romania
Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Moldova to the east, a ...
, symbolists directly influenced by French poetry first gained influence during the 1880s, when
Alexandru Macedonski reunited a group of young poets associated with his magazine ''
Literatorul''. Polemicizing with the established ''
Junimea'' and overshadowed by the influence of
Mihai Eminescu
Mihai Eminescu (; born Mihail Eminovici; 15 January 1850 – 15 June 1889) was a Romanian Romantic poet from Moldavia, novelist, and journalist, generally regarded as the most famous and influential Romanian poet. Eminescu was an active membe ...
,
Romanian symbolism was recovered as an inspiration during and after the 1910s, when it was exampled by the works of
Tudor Arghezi,
Ion Minulescu,
George Bacovia,
Mateiu Caragiale,
Tristan Tzara
Tristan Tzara (; ; born Samuel or Samy Rosenstock, also known as S. Samyro; – 25 December 1963) was a Romanian and French avant-garde poet, essayist and performance artist. Also active as a journalist, playwright, literary and art critic, comp ...
and
Tudor Vianu, and praised by the
modernist
Modernism is both a philosophy, philosophical and arts movement that arose from broad transformations in Western world, Western society during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The movement reflected a desire for the creation of new fo ...
magazine ''
Sburătorul''.
The symbolist painters were an important influence on
expressionism and
surrealism
Surrealism is a cultural movement that developed in Europe in the aftermath of World War I in which artists depicted unnerving, illogical scenes and developed techniques to allow the unconscious mind to express itself. Its aim was, according to ...
in painting, two movements which descend directly from symbolism proper. The
harlequin
Harlequin (; it, Arlecchino ; lmo, Arlechin, Bergamasque pronunciation ) is the best-known of the '' zanni'' or comic servant characters from the Italian ''commedia dell'arte'', associated with the city of Bergamo. The role is traditionall ...
s, paupers, and clowns of
Pablo Picasso
Pablo Ruiz Picasso (25 October 1881 – 8 April 1973) was a Spanish painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramicist and theatre designer who spent most of his adult life in France. One of the most influential artists of the 20th century, he is ...
's "
Blue Period Blue Period may refer to:
*Picasso's Blue Period
The Blue Period ( es, Período Azul) is a term used to define the works produced by Spanish painter Pablo Picasso between 1901 and 1904 when he painted essentially monochromatic paintings in shades ...
" show the influence of symbolism, and especially of
Puvis de Chavannes. In Belgium, symbolism became so popular that it came to be known as a national style, particularly in landscape painting: the static strangeness of painters like
René Magritte
René François Ghislain Magritte (; 21 November 1898 – 15 August 1967) was a Belgian surrealist artist known for his depictions of familiar objects in unfamiliar, unexpected contexts, which often provoked questions about the nature and bounda ...
can be considered as a direct continuation of symbolism. The work of some symbolist visual artists, such as
Jan Toorop
Johannes Theodorus 'Jan' Toorop[Jan Toorop]
art nouveau
Art Nouveau (; ) is an international style of art, architecture, and applied art, especially the decorative arts. The style is known by different names in different languages: in German, in Italian, in Catalan, and also known as the Moder ...
.
Many early motion pictures also employ symbolist visual imagery and themes in their staging, set designs, and imagery. The films of
German expressionism
German Expressionism () consisted of several related creative movements in Germany before the First World War that reached a peak in Berlin during the 1920s. These developments were part of a larger Expressionist movement in north and central ...
owe a great deal to symbolist imagery. The virginal "good girls" seen in the cinema of
D. W. Griffith
David Wark Griffith (January 22, 1875 – July 23, 1948) was an American film director. Considered one of the most influential figures in the history of the motion picture, he pioneered many aspects of film editing and expanded the art of the na ...
, and the
silent film
A silent film is a film with no synchronized Sound recording and reproduction, recorded sound (or more generally, no audible dialogue). Though silent films convey narrative and emotion visually, various plot elements (such as a setting or era) ...
"bad girls" portrayed by
Theda Bara
Theda Bara ( ; born Theodosia Burr Goodman; July 29, 1885 – April 7, 1955) was an American silent film and stage actress.
Bara was one of the more popular actresses of the silent era and one of cinema's early sex symbols. Her femme fat ...
, both show the continuing influence of symbolism, as do the
Babylonian scenes from Griffith's ''
Intolerance''. Symbolist imagery lived on longest in
horror film
Horror is a film genre that seeks to elicit fear or disgust in its audience for entertainment purposes.
Horror films often explore dark subject matter and may deal with transgressive topics or themes. Broad elements include monsters, apo ...
: as late as 1932,
Carl Theodor Dreyer
Carl Theodor Dreyer (; 3 February 1889 – 20 March 1968), commonly known as Carl Th. Dreyer, was a Danish film director and screenwriter. Widely considered one of the greatest filmmakers of all time, his movies are noted for their emotional aus ...
's ''
Vampyr'' showed the obvious influence of symbolist imagery; parts of the film resemble ''tableau vivant'' re-creations of the early paintings of
Edvard Munch
Edvard Munch ( , ; 12 December 1863 – 23 January 1944) was a Norwegian painter. His best known work, '' The Scream'' (1893), has become one of Western art's most iconic images.
His childhood was overshadowed by illness, bereavement and the d ...
.
Symbolists
Precursors
*
William Blake
William Blake (28 November 1757 – 12 August 1827) was an English poet, painter, and printmaker. Largely unrecognised during his life, Blake is now considered a seminal figure in the history of the poetry and visual art of the Romantic Age. ...
(1757–1827) English poet and artist (''
Songs of Innocence'')
*
Caspar David Friedrich
Caspar David Friedrich (5 September 1774 – 7 May 1840) was a 19th-century German Romantic landscape painter, generally considered the most important German artist of his generation. He is best known for his mid-period allegorical landscape ...
(1774–1840) German painter (''
Wanderer above the Sea of Fog'')
*
Thomas Carlyle
Thomas Carlyle (4 December 17955 February 1881) was a Scottish essayist, historian and philosopher. A leading writer of the Victorian era, he exerted a profound influence on 19th-century art, literature and philosophy.
Born in Ecclefechan, ...
(1795–1881) Scottish essayist, historian and philosopher (''
Sartor Resartus
''Sartor Resartus: The Life and Opinions of Herr Teufelsdröckh in Three Books'' is an 1831 novel by the Scottish essayist, historian and philosopher Thomas Carlyle, first published as a serial in '' Fraser's Magazine'' in November 1833 – Augu ...
'')
*
Alexander Pushkin
Alexander Sergeyevich Pushkin (; rus, links=no, Александр Сергеевич ПушкинIn pre-Revolutionary script, his name was written ., r=Aleksandr Sergeyevich Pushkin, p=ɐlʲɪkˈsandr sʲɪrˈɡʲe(j)ɪvʲɪtɕ ˈpuʂkʲɪn, ...
(1799–1837) Russian poet and writer (''
Eugene Onegin
''Eugene Onegin, A Novel in Verse'' ( pre-reform Russian: ; post-reform rus, Евгений Оне́гин, ромáн в стихáх, p=jɪvˈɡʲenʲɪj ɐˈnʲeɡʲɪn, r=Yevgeniy Onegin, roman v stikhakh) is a novel in verse written by A ...
'')
*
Prosper Mérimée
Prosper Mérimée (; 28 September 1803 – 23 September 1870) was a French writer in the movement of Romanticism, and one of the pioneers of the novella, a short novel or long short story. He was also a noted archaeologist and historian, and a ...
(1803–1870) French novelist
*
Đorđe Marković Koder
Đorđe Marković Koder (Cyrillic: Ђорђе Марковић Кодер) (1806 – April 30, 1891) was a Serbian poet born in Austrian Empire. Misunderstood, largely forgotten and often considered a marginal figure in Serbian poetry, criticized ...
(1806–1891) Serbian poet (''Romoranka'')
*
Gérard de Nerval
Gérard de Nerval (; 22 May 1808 – 26 January 1855) was the pen name of the French writer, poet, and translator Gérard Labrunie, a major figure of French romanticism, best known for his novellas and poems, especially the collection '' Les F ...
(1808–1855) French poet
*
Jules Amédée Barbey d'Aurevilly
Jules-Amédée Barbey d'Aurevilly (2 November 1808 – 23 April 1889) was a French novelist and short story writer. He specialised in mystery tales that explored hidden motivation and hinted at evil without being explicitly concerned with anythin ...
(1808–1889) French writer
*
Edgar Allan Poe
Edgar Allan Poe (; Edgar Poe; January 19, 1809 – October 7, 1849) was an American writer, poet, editor, and literary critic. Poe is best known for his poetry and short stories, particularly his tales of mystery and the macabre. He is wide ...
(1809–1849) American poet and writer (''
The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket
''The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket'' (1838) is the only complete novel written by American writer Edgar Allan Poe. The work relates the tale of the young Arthur Gordon Pym, who stows away aboard a whaling ship called the ''Grampus' ...
'')
*
Mikhail Lermontov
Mikhail Yuryevich Lermontov (; russian: Михаи́л Ю́рьевич Ле́рмонтов, p=mʲɪxɐˈil ˈjurʲjɪvʲɪtɕ ˈlʲɛrməntəf; – ) was a Russian Romantic writer, poet and painter, sometimes called "the poet of the Caucasu ...
(1814–1841) Russian poet and writer (''
A Hero of Our Time
''A Hero of Our Time'' ( rus, Герой нашего времени, links=1, r=Gerój nášego vrémeni, p=ɡʲɪˈroj ˈnaʂɨvə ˈvrʲemʲɪnʲɪ) is a novel by Mikhail Lermontov, written in 1839, published in 1840, and revised in 1841.
It ...
'')
*
Charles Baudelaire
Charles Pierre Baudelaire (, ; ; 9 April 1821 – 31 August 1867) was a French poet who also produced notable work as an essayist and art critic. His poems exhibit mastery in the handling of rhyme and rhythm, contain an exoticism inherited ...
(1821–1867) French poet (''
Les Fleurs du mal
''Les Fleurs du mal'' (; en, The Flowers of Evil, italic=yes) is a volume of French poetry by Charles Baudelaire.
''Les Fleurs du mal'' includes nearly all Baudelaire's poetry, written from 1840 until his death in August 1867. First publis ...
'')
*
Gustave Flaubert
Gustave Flaubert ( , , ; 12 December 1821 – 8 May 1880) was a French novelist. Highly influential, he has been considered the leading exponent of literary realism in his country. According to the literary theorist Kornelije Kvas, "in Flaube ...
(1821–1880) French writer (''
Madame Bovary
''Madame Bovary'' (; ), originally published as ''Madame Bovary: Provincial Manners'' ( ), is a novel by French writer Gustave Flaubert, published in 1856. The eponymous character lives beyond her means in order to escape the banalities and em ...
'')
*
Dante Gabriel Rossetti
Gabriel Charles Dante Rossetti (12 May 1828 – 9 April 1882), generally known as Dante Gabriel Rossetti (), was an English poet, illustrator, painter, translator and member of the Rossetti family. He founded the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhoo ...
(1828–1882) English poet and painter (''
Beata Beatrix'')
*
Christina Rossetti
Christina Georgina Rossetti (5 December 1830 – 29 December 1894) was an English writer of romantic, devotional and children's poems, including " Goblin Market" and "Remember". She also wrote the words of two Christmas carols well known in Brit ...
(1830–1894) English poet
Authors
Armenian
*
Misak Metsarents
Misak Metsarents or Medzarents ( hy, Միսաք Մեծարենց; 18 January 1886 – 5 July 1908) was a leading Western Armenian Neo-romanticism, neo-romantic poet.
Biography
Misak Metsarents was born Misak Metsadourian in the village of Pi ...
(1886–1908)
*
Levon Shant
Levon Shant ( hy, Լեւոն Շանթ; born Levon Nahashbedian, then changed to Levon Seghposian; 6 April 1869 – 29 November 1951) was an Armenian playwright, novelist, poet and founder of the Hamazkayin Armenian Educational and Cultural Societ ...
(1869–1951)
*
Siamanto
Atom Yarchanian ( hy, Ատոմ Եարճանեան), better known by his pen name Siamanto (Սիամանթօ) (15 August 1878 – August 1915), was an influential Armenian writer, poet and national figure from the late 19th century and early 20 ...
(1878–1915)
*
Daniel Varujan (1884–1915)
*
Gostan Zarian ( 1885–1969)
Belgian
*
Albert Giraud (1860–1929)
*
Charles van Lerberghe (1861-1907)
*
Maurice Maeterlinck
Maurice Polydore Marie Bernard Maeterlinck (29 August 1862 – 6 May 1949), also known as Count (or Comte) Maeterlinck from 1932, was a Belgian playwright, poet, and essayist who was Flemish but wrote in French. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in ...
(1862–1949)
*
Albert Mockel (1866–1945)
*
Georges Rodenbach
Georges Raymond Constantin Rodenbach (16 July 1855 – 25 December 1898) was a Belgian Symbolist poet and novelist.
Biography
Georges Rodenbach was born in Tournai to a French mother and a German father from the Rhineland ( Andernach). He was ...
(1855–1898)
*
Emile Verhaeren (1855–1916)
Dutch
*
Marcellus Emants (1848-1923)
*
Louis Couperus
Louis Marie-Anne Couperus (10 June 1863 – 16 July 1923) was a Dutch novelist and poet. His oeuvre contains a wide variety of genres: lyric poetry, psychological and historical novels, novellas, short stories, fairy tales, feuilletons and s ...
(1863–1923)
*
J. H. Leopold (1865–1925)
English
*
Edmund Gosse
Sir Edmund William Gosse (; 21 September 184916 May 1928) was an English poet, author and critic. He was strictly brought up in a small Protestant sect, the Plymouth Brethren, but broke away sharply from that faith. His account of his childhoo ...
(1849–1928)
*
William Ernest Henley (1849–1903)
*
Arthur Symons
Arthur William Symons (28 February 186522 January 1945) was a British poet, critic and magazine editor.
Life
Born in Milford Haven, Wales, to Cornish parents, Symons was educated privately, spending much of his time in France and Italy. In 1884 ...
(1865–1945)
*
Renée Vivien (1877–1909)
French
*
Paul Adam (1862–1920)
*
Albert Aurier (1865–1892)
*
Léon Bloy
Léon Bloy (; 11 July 1846 – 3 November 1917) was a French Catholic novelist, essayist, pamphleteer (or lampoonist), and satirist, known additionally for his eventual (and passionate) defense of Catholicism and for his influence within French C ...
(1846–1917)
* Early
Henri Barbusse (1873–1935)
*
Henri Cazalis (1840–1909)
*
Georges Duhamel
Georges Duhamel (; ; 30 June 1884 – 13 April 1966) was a French author, born in Paris. Duhamel trained as a doctor, and during World War I was attached to the French Army. In 1920, he published ''Confession de minuit'', the first of a serie ...
(1884–1966)
*
Paul Fort (1872–1960)
*
Rémy de Gourmont (1858–1915)
*
Nicolette Hennique (born 1886)
*
Auguste Villiers de l'Isle-Adam
Jean-Marie-Mathias-Philippe-Auguste, comte de Villiers de l'Isle-Adam (7 November 1838 – 19 August 1889) was a French symbolist writer. His family called him Mathias while his friends called him Villiers; he would also use the name Auguste wh ...
(1838–1889)
*
Alfred Jarry (1873–1907)
*
Gustave Kahn (1859–1936)
*
Jules Laforgue (1860–1887), Uruguayan (wrote in French)
*
Comte de Lautréamont
Comte de Lautréamont () was the ''Pen name, nom de plume'' of Isidore Lucien Ducasse (4 April 1846 – 24 November 1870), a French language, French poet born in Uruguay. His only works, ''Les Chants de Maldoror'' and ''Poésies'', had a majo ...
(1846–1870), Uruguayan (wrote in French)
*
Jean Lorrain
Jean Lorrain (9 August 1855 in Fécamp, Seine-Maritime – 30 June 1906), born Paul Alexandre Martin Duval, was a French poet and novelist of the Symbolist school.
Lorrain was a dedicated disciple of dandyism and spent much of his time amo ...
(1855–1906)
*
Stéphane Mallarmé
Stéphane Mallarmé ( , ; 18 March 1842 – 9 September 1898), pen name of Étienne Mallarmé, was a French poet and critic. He was a major French symbolist poet, and his work anticipated and inspired several revolutionary artistic schools of t ...
(1842–1898)
*
Alexandre Mercereau (1884–1945)
*
Oscar Milosz
Oscar Vladislas de Lubicz Milosz ( lt, Oskaras Milašius; ) (28 May 1877 – 2 March 1939) was a French language poet, playwright, novelist, essayist and representative of Lithuania at the League of Nations.Czesław Miłosz, Cynthia L. Haven. ...
(1877–1939) Lithuanian (wrote in French)
*
Jean Moréas
Jean Moréas (; born Ioannis A. Papadiamantopoulos, Ιωάννης Α. Παπαδιαμαντόπουλος; 15 April 1856 – 31 March 1910), was a Greek poet, essayist, and art critic, who wrote mostly in the French language but also in Greek du ...
(1856–1910) Greek (wrote in French)
*
Saint-Pol-Roux (1861–1940)
*
Émile Nelligan (1879–1941) Canadian (wrote in
Quebec French
Quebec French (french: français québécois ), also known as Québécois French, is the predominant variety of the French language spoken in Canada. It is the dominant language of the province of Quebec, used in everyday communication, in educ ...
)
*
Germain Nouveau (1851–1920)
*
Rachilde (1860–1953)
*
Henri de Régnier (1864–1936)
*
Arthur Rimbaud
Jean Nicolas Arthur Rimbaud (, ; 20 October 1854 – 10 November 1891) was a French poet known for his transgressive and surreal themes and for his influence on modern literature and arts, prefiguring surrealism. Born in Charleville, he sta ...
(1854–1891)
*
Jules Romains
Jules Romains (born Louis Henri Jean Farigoule; 26 August 1885 – 14 August 1972) was a French poet and writer and the founder of the Unanimism literary movement. His works include the play ''Knock ou le Triomphe de la médecine'', and a cycle ...
(1885–1972)
*
Albert Samain (1858–1900)
*
Marcel Schwob
Mayer André Marcel Schwob, known as Marcel Schwob (23 August 1867 – 26 February 1905), was a French symbolist writer best known for his short stories and his literary influence on authors such as Jorge Luis Borges, Alfonso Reyes, Roberto Bola� ...
(1867–1905)
*
Paul Valéry
Ambroise Paul Toussaint Jules Valéry (; 30 October 1871 – 20 July 1945) was a French poet, essayist, and philosopher. In addition to his poetry and fiction (drama and dialogues), his interests included aphorisms on art, history, letters, mu ...
(1871–1945)
*
Paul Verlaine
Paul-Marie Verlaine (; ; 30 March 1844 – 8 January 1896) was a French poet associated with the Symbolist movement and the Decadent movement. He is considered one of the greatest representatives of the ''fin de siècle'' in international and F ...
(1844–1896)
*
Francis Vielé-Griffin (1863–1937)
*
Charles Vildrac (1882–1971)
Georgian
*
Valerian Gaprindashvili
Valerian Gaprindashvili ( ka, ვალერიან გაფრინდაშვილი) (December 21, 1888 – January 31, 1941) was a Georgian poet and translator whose early, Symbolist, poetry was of much influence on development of Ge ...
(1888–1941)
*
Paolo Iashvili
Paolo Iashvili ( ka, პაოლო იაშვილი; 29 June 1894 – 22 July 1937) was a Georgian poet and one of the leaders of Georgian symbolist movement. Under the Soviet Union, his obligatory conformism and the loss of his friends at ...
(1894–1937)
*
Sergo Kldiashvili (1893–1986)
*
Giorgi Leonidze (1899–1966)
*
Kolau Nadiradze
Kolau Nadiradze ( ka, კოლაუ ნადირაძე) (24 February 1895 – 28 October 1990) was a Georgian poet and the last representative of Georgian Symbolist school.
Born in Kutaisi, Georgia (then part of the Russian Empire), Nadir ...
(1895–1991)
*
Grigol Robakidze
Grigol Robakidze () (October 28, 1880, Sviri (West Georgia) – November 19, 1962, Geneva) was a Georgian writer, publicist, and public figure primarily known for his prose and anti-Soviet émigré activities.
Biography
He was born on October 2 ...
(1880–1962)
*
Titsian Tabidze
Titsian Tabidze ( ka, ტიციან ტაბიძე, simply referred to as Titsiani; ka, ტიციანი) (16 December 1937), was a Georgian poet and one of the leaders of the Georgian symbolist movement. He fell victim to Joseph S ...
(1895–1937)
*
Sandro Tsirekidze Sandro Tsirekidze ( ka, სანდრო ცირეკიძე) (1894–1923) was a Georgian poet, Symbolist.
Born in Kutaisi, he graduated from the school course in 1912 and then continued his studies at St. Petersburg University. Because of ...
(1894–1923)
German and Austrian
*
Stefan George (1868–1933) German
*
Hugo von Hofmannsthal
Hugo Laurenz August Hofmann von Hofmannsthal (; 1 February 1874 – 15 July 1929) was an Austrian novelist, librettist, poet, dramatist, narrator, and essayist.
Early life
Hofmannsthal was born in Landstraße, Vienna, the son of an upper-cla ...
(1874–1929) Austrian
*
Alfred Kubin (1877–1959) Austrian
*
Gustav Meyrink (1868–1932) Austrian
*
Rainer Maria Rilke
René Karl Wilhelm Johann Josef Maria Rilke (4 December 1875 – 29 December 1926), shortened to Rainer Maria Rilke (), was an Austrian poet and novelist. He has been acclaimed as an idiosyncratic and expressive poet, and is widely recog ...
(1875–1926) Austro-Bohemian
*
Arthur Schnitzler
Arthur Schnitzler (15 May 1862 – 21 October 1931) was an Austrian author and dramatist.
Biography
Arthur Schnitzler was born at Praterstrasse 16, Leopoldstadt, Vienna, capital of the Austrian Empire (as of 1867, part of the dual monarch ...
(1862–1931) Austrian
Polish
See Also:
Young Poland movement
*
Stanisław Korab-Brzozowski Stanisław Korab-Brzozowski (1876 - 1901 in Warsaw) was a Polish poet and translator, brother of the poet Wincenty Korab-Brzozowski and son of the romantic bard Karol Brzozowski. Representative of Polish decadence. One of the greatest poets of You ...
(1876–1901)
*
Antoni Lange (1861–1929)
*
Tadeusz Miciński
Tadeusz Miciński (9 November 1873, in Łódź – February 1918, in Cherykaw Raion, Belarus) was an influential Polish poet, gnostic and playwright, and was a forerunner of Expressionism and Surrealism. He is one of the writers of the Young Po ...
(1873–1918)
Portuguese and Brasilian
* (1861–1934)
*
João da Cruz e Sousa
João da Cruz e Sousa (24 November 1861 – 19 March 1898), also referred to simply as Cruz e Sousa, was a Brazilian poet and journalist, famous for being one of the first Brazilian Symbolist poets. A descendant of African slaves, he has receiv ...
(1861–1898) Brazilian
*
Raul Brandão (1867–1930)
* (1868–1946)
*
Eugénio de Castro
Eugénio de Castro e Almeida (March 4, 1869 in Coimbra, Portugal – August 17, 1944) was a Portuguese writer and a poet. He was a professor at the Faculty of Letters at the University of Coimbra and attended Escola Normal Superior in ...
(1869–1944)
*
Alphonsus de Guimaraens
Afonso Henrique da Costa Guimarães, known as Alphonsus de Guimaraens; (July 24, 1870 in Ouro Preto – July 15, 1921 in Mariana) was a Brazilian poet.
The poetry of Alphonsus de Guimaraes is substantially mystical and involved with Catholi ...
(1870–1921) Brazilian
*
António Nobre (1867–1900)
*
Camilo Pessanha
Camilo de Almeida Pessanha (7 September 1867 – 1 March 1926) was a Portuguese symbolist poet.
Biography
Early years
Camilo de Almeida Pessanha was born the illegitimate son of Francisco António de Almeida Pessanha, an aristocratic law st ...
(1867–1926)
*
Augusto Gil
Augusto César Ferreira Gil was a Portuguese lawyer and poet.
He was born on 31 July 1873 in Porto
Porto or Oporto () is the second-largest city in Portugal, the capital of the Porto District, and one of the Iberian Peninsula's major urban ...
(1873–1929)
*
Mário de Sá-Carneiro (1890–1916)
Russian
*
Innokenty Annensky
Innokenty Fyodorovich Annensky ( rus, Инноке́нтий Фёдорович А́нненский, p=ɪnɐˈkʲenʲtʲɪj ˈfʲɵdərəvʲɪtɕ ˈanʲɪnskʲɪj, a=Innokyentiy Fyodorovich Annyenskiy.ru.vorb.oga; (1 September O.S. 20 August">Ol ...
(1855–1909)
*
Konstantin Balmont (1867–1942)
*
Andrei Bely (1880–1934)
*
Alexander Blok
Alexander Alexandrovich Blok ( rus, Алекса́ндр Алекса́ндрович Бло́к, p=ɐlʲɪˈksandr ɐlʲɪˈksandrəvʲɪtɕ ˈblok, a=Ru-Alyeksandr Alyeksandrovich Blok.oga; 7 August 1921) was a Russian lyrical poet, writer, publ ...
(1880–1921)
*
Valery Bryusov (1873–1924)
*
Zinaida Gippius
Zinaida Nikolayevna Gippius (Hippius) (; – 9 September 1945) was a Russian poet, playwright, novelist, editor and religious thinker, one of the major figures in Russian symbolism. The story of her marriage to Dmitry Merezhkovsky, which lasted ...
(1869–1945)
*
Vyacheslav Ivanov (1866–1949)
*
Fyodor Sologub (1863–1927)
*
Dmitry Merezhkovsky (1865–1941)
*
Teffi (1872–1952)
*
Maximilian Voloshin
Maximilian Alexandrovich Kirienko-Voloshin (russian: Максимилиа́н Алекса́ндрович Кирие́нко-Воло́шин; May 28, Old_Style_and_New_Style_dates">O.S._May_16.html" ;"title="Old_Style_and_New_Style_dates.html" ...
(1877–1932)
Scottish Gaelic
* Fr.
Allan MacDonald
Allan Macdonald (November 21, 1794 White Plains, Westchester County, New York – January 1862) was an American politician from New York.
Life
He was the son of Dr. Archibald Macdonald (d. 1813), a native of Scotland.
Allan Macdonald was Postm ...
(1859 - 1905)
*
Sorley MacLean (1911 - 1996)
*
Deòrsa Mac Iain Dheòrsa (1915 - 1984)
Serbian
*
Svetozar Ćorović (1875–1919)
*
Jovan Dučić (1871–1943)
*
Petar Kočić (1877–1916)
*
Veljko Petrović (poet)
Veljko Petrović (Serbian Cyrillic: Вељко Петровић; Sombor, Serbia, 4 February 1884 - Belgrade, Serbia, Yugoslavia, 27 July 1967) was a Serbian poet, short story writer, diplomat, and academic.
Biography
Veljko Petrović was bor ...
(1884–1967)
*
Vladislav Petković Dis (1880–1917)
*
Sima Pandurović (1883–1960)
*
Milan Rakić (1876–1938)
*
Isidora Sekulić
Isidora Sekulić ( sr-cyr, Исидора Секулић, 16 February 1877 – 5 April 1958) was a Serbian writer, novelist, essayist, polyglot and art critic. She was "the first woman academic in the history of Serbia".
Biography
Sekulić was b ...
(1877–1958)
*
Jovan Skerlić
Jovan Skerlić (, ; 20 August 1877 – 15 May 1914) was a Serbian writer and literary critic.''Jovan Skerlić u srpskoj književnosti 1877–1977: Zbornik radova''. Posebna izdanja, Institut za knjizevnost i umetnost, Belgrade. He is seen as one ...
(1877–1914)
*
Borisav Stanković
)
, honorific_prefix =
, honorific_suffix =
, image =Bora Stanković.jpg
, image_size =
, alt =
, caption = Stanković's statue in Vranje
, native_name =
, native_name_lang = sr
, pseudonym =
, birth_name = Борисав Стан ...
(1876–1927)
*
Aleksa Šantić (1868–1924)
Others
*
Josip Murn Aleksandrov (1879–1901) Slovene
*
George Bacovia (1881–1957) Romanian
*
Jurgis Baltrušaitis (1873–1944) Lithuanian
*
Jorge Luis Borges
Jorge Francisco Isidoro Luis Borges Acevedo (; ; 24 August 1899 – 14 June 1986) was an Argentine short-story writer, essayist, poet and translator, as well as a key figure in Spanish-language and international literature. His best-known b ...
(1899-1986), Argentine
*
Otokar Březina (1868–1929) Czech
*
Mateiu Caragiale (1885–1936) Romanian
*
Dimcho Debelyanov
Dimcho Debelyanov () (28 March 1887 – 2 October 1916) was a Bulgarian poet and author.
Born to a prosperous tailoring family in Koprivshtitsa, Bulgaria, Debelyanov experienced financial hardship upon the death of his father in 1896, which n ...
(1887–1916) Bulgarian
*
Viktors Eglītis (1877–1945) Latvian
*
Ady Endre (1877–1919) Hungarian
*
Dumitru Karnabatt
Dumitru or Dimitrie Karnabatt (last name also Karnabat, Carnabatt or Carnabat, commonly known as D. Karr; October 26, 1877 – April 1949) was a Romanian poet, art critic and political journalist, one of the minor representatives of Symbolism. He ...
(1877–1949) Romanian
*
Ivan Krasko (1876–1958) Slovak
*
Stuart Merrill (1863–1915) American
*
Giovanni Pascoli (1855–1912) Italian
Influence in English literature
English language authors who influenced or were influenced by symbolism include:
*
Conrad Aiken (1889–1973)
*
Max Beerbohm
Sir Henry Maximilian Beerbohm (24 August 1872 – 20 May 1956) was an English essayist, Parody, parodist and Caricature, caricaturist under the signature Max. He first became known in the 1890s as a dandy and a humorist. He was the drama critic ...
(1872–1956)
*
Christopher Brennan
Christopher John Brennan (1 November 1870 – 5 October 1932) was an Australian poet, scholar and literary critic.
Biography
Brennan was born in Haymarket, an inner suburb of Sydney, to Christopher Brennan (d. 1919), a brewer, and his wife ...
- (1870-1932)
*
Roy Campbell (1900-1957)
*
Hart Crane
Harold Hart Crane (July 21, 1899 – April 27, 1932) was an American poet. Provoked and inspired by T. S. Eliot, Crane wrote modernist poetry that was difficult, highly stylized, and ambitious in its scope. In his most ambitious work, ''The Bridge ...
(1899–1932)
*
Olive Custance (1874–1944)
*
Ernest Dowson (1867–1900)
*
T. S. Eliot
Thomas Stearns Eliot (26 September 18884 January 1965) was a poet, essayist, publisher, playwright, literary critic and editor.Bush, Ronald. "T. S. Eliot's Life and Career", in John A Garraty and Mark C. Carnes (eds), ''American National Biogr ...
(1888–1965)
*
James Elroy Flecker
James Elroy Flecker (5 November 1884 – 3 January 1915) was a British novelist and playwright. As a poet, he was most influenced by the Parnassian poets.
Biography
Herman Elroy Flecker was born on 5 November 1884 in Lewisham, London, to Will ...
(1884–1915)
*
John Gray (1866–1934)
*
George MacDonald
George MacDonald (10 December 1824 – 18 September 1905) was a Scottish author, poet and Christian Congregational minister. He was a pioneering figure in the field of modern fantasy literature and the mentor of fellow writer Lewis Carroll. ...
(1824–1905)
*
Arthur Machen
Arthur Machen (; 3 March 1863 – 15 December 1947) was the pen-name of Arthur Llewellyn Jones, a Welsh author and mystic of the 1890s and early 20th century. He is best known for his influential supernatural, fantasy, and horror fiction. H ...
(1863–1947)
*
Katherine Mansfield
Kathleen Mansfield Murry (née Beauchamp; 14 October 1888 – 9 January 1923) was a New Zealand writer, essayist and journalist, widely considered one of the most influential and important authors of the modernist movement. Her works are celebr ...
(1888–1923)
*
Edith Sitwell (1887–1964)
*
Clark Ashton Smith (1893–1961)
*
George Sterling (1869–1926)
*
Wallace Stevens
Wallace Stevens (October 2, 1879 – August 2, 1955) was an American modernist poet. He was born in Reading, Pennsylvania, educated at Harvard and then New York Law School, and spent most of his life working as an executive for an insurance comp ...
(1879–1955)
*
Algernon Charles Swinburne
Algernon Charles Swinburne (5 April 1837 – 10 April 1909) was an English poet, playwright, novelist, and critic. He wrote several novels and collections of poetry such as '' Poems and Ballads'', and contributed to the famous Eleventh Edition ...
(1837–1909)
*
Francis Thompson (1859–1907)
*
J.R.R. Tolkien
John Ronald Reuel Tolkien (, ; 3 January 1892 – 2 September 1973) was an English writer and philologist. He was the author of the high fantasy works '' The Hobbit'' and '' The Lord of the Rings''.
From 1925 to 1945, Tolkien was the Ra ...
(1892-1970)
[Lee 2020, Anna Vaninskaya, "Modernity: Tolkien and His Contemporaries", pages 350–366]
*
Rosamund Marriott Watson (1860–1911)
*
Oscar Wilde
Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde (16 October 185430 November 1900) was an Irish poet and playwright. After writing in different forms throughout the 1880s, he became one of the most popular playwrights in London in the early 1890s. He is ...
(1854–1900)
*
W. B. Yeats (1865–1939)
Symbolist visual artists
French
*
Edmond Aman-Jean (1858–1936)
*
Émile Bernard (1868–1941)
*
Gaston Bussière (painter) (1862–1929)
*
Eugène Carrière (1849–1906)
*
Pierre Puvis de Chavannes (1824–1898)
*
Maurice Denis
Maurice Denis (; 25 November 1870 – 13 November 1943) was a French painter, decorative artist, and writer. An important figure in the transitional period between impressionism and modern art, he is associated with ''Les Nabis'', symbolism, a ...
(1870-1943)
*
Henri Fantin-Latour
Henri Fantin-Latour (14 January 1836 – 25 August 1904) was a French painter and lithographer best known for his flower paintings and group portraits of Parisian artists and writers.
Biography
He was born Ignace Henri Jean Théodore Fantin-Lat ...
(1836–1904)
*
Charles Filiger (1863–1928)
*
Paul Gauguin
Eugène Henri Paul Gauguin (, ; ; 7 June 1848 – 8 May 1903) was a French Post-Impressionist artist. Unappreciated until after his death, Gauguin is now recognized for his experimental use of colour and Synthetist style that were distinct fr ...
(1848–1903)
*
Charles Guilloux (1866–1946)
*
Lucien Lévy-Dhurmer (1865–1953)
*
Pierre Félix Masseau (1869-1937)
*
Edgar Maxence (1871–1954)
*
Gustave Moreau
Gustave Moreau (; 6 April 1826 – 18 April 1898) was a French artist and an important figure in the Symbolist movement. Jean Cassou called him "the Symbolist painter par excellence".Cassou, Jean. 1979. ''The Concise Encyclopedia of Symbolism.' ...
(1826–1898)
*
Gustav-Adolf Mossa (1883–1971)
*
Alphonse Osbert (1857–1939)
*
Armand Point (1861–1932)
*
Ary Renan
Cornelius Ary Renan (1857–1900) was a French Symbolist painter and anti-clerical social activist.
Career
Renan was the son of the Breton scholar Ernest Renan, who pioneered modern secular study of the life of Jesus. His mother was the daug ...
(1857–1900)
*
Odilon Redon (1840–1916)
*
Alexandre Séon (1855–1917)
Russian
See Also: ''
Russian Symbolism'' and the
Blue Rose group.
*
Léon Bakst
Léon Bakst (russian: Леон (Лев) Николаевич Бакст, Leon (Lev) Nikolaevich Bakst) – born as Leyb-Khaim Izrailevich (later Samoylovich) Rosenberg, Лейб-Хаим Израилевич (Самойлович) Розенбе ...
(1866–1924)
*
Alexandre Benois (1870–1960)
*
Ivan Bilibin (1876–1942)
*
Victor Borisov-Musatov (1870–1905)
*
Konstantin Bogaevsky (1872–1943)
*
Wassily Kandinsky
Wassily Wassilyevich Kandinsky (; rus, Василий Васильевич Кандинский, Vasiliy Vasilyevich Kandinskiy, vɐˈsʲilʲɪj vɐˈsʲilʲjɪvʲɪtɕ kɐnʲˈdʲinskʲɪj; – 13 December 1944) was a Russian painter a ...
(early works) (1866–1944)
*
Mikhail Nesterov (1862–1942)
*
Nicholas Roerich
Nicholas Roerich (; October 9, 1874 – December 13, 1947), also known as Nikolai Konstantinovich Rerikh (russian: link=no, Никола́й Константи́нович Ре́рих), was a Russian painter, writer, archaeologist, theosoph ...
(1874–1947)
*
Konstantin Somov (1869–1939)
*
Viktor Vasnetsov (1848–1926)
*
Mikhail Vrubel
Mikhail Aleksandrovich Vrubel (russian: Михаил Александрович Врубель; March 17, 1856 – April 14, 1910, all n.s.) was a Russian painter, draughtsman, and sculptor. A prolific and innovative master in various med ...
(1856–1910)
Belgian
*
Félicien Rops
Félicien Victor Joseph Rops (7 July 1833 – 23 August 1898) was a Belgian artist associated with Symbolism and the Parisian Fin-de Siecle. He was a painter, illustrator, caricaturist and a prolific and innovative print maker, particularly in ...
(1855–1898)
*
Fernand Khnopff
Fernand Edmond Jean Marie Khnopff (12 September 1858 – 12 November 1921) was a Belgian symbolist painter.
Life Youth and training
Fernand Khnopff was born to a wealthy family that was part of the high bourgeoisie for generations. Khnopff ...
(1858–1921)
*
James Ensor
James Sidney Edouard, Baron Ensor (13 April 1860 – 19 November 1949) was a Belgium, Belgian Painting, painter and Printmaking, printmaker, an important influence on expressionism and surrealism who lived in Ostend for most of his life. He was ...
(1860–1949)
*
Égide Rombaux (1865–1942)
*
Léon Frédéric (1865–1940)
*
William Degouve de Nuncques (1867–1935)
*
Jean Delville
Jean Delville (19 January 1867 – 19 January 1953) was a Belgian symbolist painter, author, poet, polemicist, teacher, and Theosophist. Delville was the leading exponent of the Belgian Idealist movement in art during the 1890s. He held, throug ...
(1867–1953)
*
Léon Spilliaert
Léon Spilliaert (also Leon Spilliaert; 28 July 1881 – 23 November 1946) was a Belgian symbolist painter and graphic artist.
Biography
Spilliaert was born in Ostend, the oldest of seven children of Léonard-Hubert Spilliaert, a perfu ...
(1882–1946)
Romanian
*
Octavian Smigelschi (1866–1912) Austro-Hungarian born, culturally Romanian
*
Mihail Simonidi
Mihail Simonidi or, in French, Michel Simonidy (8 March 1870, Bucharest - 7 February 1933, Paris) was a Romanian painter, designer and decorator of Greek ancestry who worked in the Art Nouveau style.
Biography
He came from a Greek family that h ...
(1870–1933)
*
Lascăr Vorel (1879–1918)
*
Apcar Baltazar
Apcar Baltazar (26 February 1880, Bucharest – 26 September 1909, Bucharest) was a Romanian painter and art critic of Armenian parentage. His first name is often spelled Abgar, due to differing transliterations from Armenian.
Biography
He was ...
(1880–1909)
*
Ion Theodorescu-Sion
Ion Theodorescu-Sion (; also known as Ioan Theodorescu-Sion or Teodorescu-Sion; January 2, 1882 – March 31, 1939) was a Romanian painter and draftsman, known for his contributions to modern art and especially for his traditionalist, primitivist, ...
(1882–1939)
German
*
Eugen Bracht (1842–1921)
*
Karl Wilhelm Diefenbach (1851–1913)
*
Fritz Erler (1868–1940)
*
Ludwig Fahrenkrog
Ludwig Fahrenkrog (20 October 1867 – 27 October 1952) was a German painter, illustrator, sculptor and writer. He was born in Rendsburg, Prussia, in 1867. He started his career as an artist in his youth, and attended the Berlin Royal Art ...
(1867–1952)
*
Fidus (1868–1948)
*
Otto Greiner (1869–1916)
*
Ludwig von Hofmann
Ludwig von Hofmann (17 August 1861 – 23 August 1945) was a German painter, graphic artist and designer. He worked in a combination of the Art Nouveau and Symbolism (arts), Symbolist styles. His work was part of the Art competitions at the 1928 S ...
(1861–1945)
*
Max Klinger
Max Klinger (18 February 1857 – 5 July 1920) was a German artist who produced significant work in painting, sculpture, prints and graphics, as well as writing a treatise articulating his ideas on art and the role of graphic arts and printmak ...
(1857 – July 1920)
*
Emil Nolde (1867–1953)
*
Max Pietschmann
Ernst Max Pietschmann (August 6, 1865, in Dresden, Kingdom of Saxony – April 16, 1952, in Niederpoyritz, Dresden) was a German Symbolist painter.
Life
Max Pietschmann studied at the Dresden Academy of Fine Arts from 1883 to 1889. His teache ...
(1865–1952)
*
Paul Schad-Rossa (1862–1916)
*
Sascha Schneider
Rudolph Karl Alexander Schneider, commonly known as Sascha Schneider (21 September 1870 – 18 August 1927), was a German painter and sculptor.
Biography
Schneider was born in Saint Petersburg in 1870. During his childhood, his family lived ...
(1870–1927)
*
Clara Siewert
Clara Siewert (9 December 1862, Budda ( Pomerania) – 11 October 1945, Berlin) was a German Symbolist painter, graphic artist and sculptor; associated with the Berlin Secession.
Biography
She was born to a family of Baltic-Germans who ...
(1862–1945)
*
Franz von Stuck
Franz von Stuck (February 23, 1863 – August 30, 1928), born Franz Stuck, was a German painter, sculptor, printmaker, and architect. Stuck was best known for his paintings of ancient mythology, receiving substantial critical acclaim with '' The ...
(1863–1928)
*
Hans Unger (1872–1936)
*
Oskar Zwintscher
Oskar Zwintscher (2 May 1870, in Leipzig – 12 February 1916, in Dresden) was a German painter. He is often associated with the Jugendstil movement.
Life
From 1887 to 1890 he studied at the Hochschule für Grafik und Buchkunst Leipzig and, ...
(1870–1916)
Swiss
*
Arnold Böcklin
Arnold Böcklin (16 October 182716 January 1901) was a Swiss symbolist painter.
Biography
He was born in Basel. His father, Christian Frederick Böcklin (b. 1802), was descended from an old family of Schaffhausen, and engaged in the silk trad ...
(1827–1901)
*
Ferdinand Hodler (1853–1918)
*
Carlos Schwabe
Carlos Schwabe (born Émile Martin Charles Schwabe; 21 July 1866 – 22 January 1926) was a Swiss Symbolist painter and printmaker.
Life
Schwabe was born in Altona, Holstein into a merchant family. In 1870 his family moved to Switzerland, ...
(1866–1926)
Austrian
*
Albin Egger-Lienz (1868–1926)
*
Rudolf Jettmar (1869–1939)
*
Gustav Klimt
Gustav Klimt (July 14, 1862 – February 6, 1918) was an Austrian symbolist painter and one of the most prominent members of the Vienna Secession movement. Klimt is noted for his paintings, murals, sketches, and other objets d'art. Klimt's p ...
(1862–1918)
*
Alfred Kubin (1877–1959)
*
Karl Mediz (1868–1945)
*
Richard Müller (1874–1954)
Others
*
George Frederic Watts
George Frederic Watts (23 February 1817, in London – 1 July 1904) was a British painter and sculptor associated with the Symbolist movement. He said "I paint ideas, not things." Watts became famous in his lifetime for his allegorical work ...
(1817–1904) English
*
James A. McNeill Whistler
James Abbott McNeill Whistler (; July 10, 1834July 17, 1903) was an American painter active during the American Gilded Age and based primarily in the United Kingdom. He eschewed sentimentality and moral allusion in painting and was a leading pr ...
(1834–1903) American
*
Albert Pinkham Ryder
Albert Pinkham Ryder (March 19, 1847 – March 28, 1917) was an American painter best known for his poetic and moody allegory, allegorical works and seascapes, as well as his Eccentricity (behavior), eccentric personality. While his art shared an ...
(1847–1917) American
*
John William Waterhouse
John William Waterhouse (6 April 184910 February 1917) was an English painter known for working first in the Academic style and for then embracing the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood's style and subject matter. His artworks were known for their dep ...
(1849–1917) English
*
Luis Ricardo Falero
Luis Ricardo Falero (May 23, 1851 – December 7, 1896) was a Spanish painter. He specialized in female nudes and mythological, orientalist and fantasy settings.
In 1896, the year of his death, Maud Harvey sued Falero for paternity. The ...
(1851–1896) Spanish
*
Jacek Malczewski (1854–1929) Polish
*
Ancell Stronach
Ancell Stronach (1901-1981) was a Scottish artist born in Dundee.
Stronach was a member of the Royal Scottish Academy, elected in June 1934. He was winner of the Royal Scottish Academy ‘Guthrie Award’ in April 1927. Stronach was initiall ...
(1901–1981) Scottish
*
Jan Toorop
Johannes Theodorus 'Jan' Toorop[Jan Toorop]
Giovanni Segantini
Giovanni Segantini (15 January 1858 – 28 September 1899) was an Italian painter known for his large pastoral landscapes of the Alps. He was one of the most famous artists in Europe in the late 19th century, and his paintings were collected by ...
(1858–1899) Italian
*
Edvard Munch
Edvard Munch ( , ; 12 December 1863 – 23 January 1944) was a Norwegian painter. His best known work, '' The Scream'' (1893), has become one of Western art's most iconic images.
His childhood was overshadowed by illness, bereavement and the d ...
(1863–1944) Norwegian
*
Arthur Bowen Davies
Arthur Bowen Davies (September 26, 1862 – October 24, 1928) was an avant-garde American artist and influential advocate of modern art in the United States c. 1910–1928.
Biography
Davies was born in Utica, New York, the son of David and Ph ...
(1863–1928) American
*
(1866–1944) Brazilian
*
John Duncan (1866–1945) Scottish
* Early
František Kupka (1871–1957) Czech
*
Hugo Simberg (1873–1917) Finnish
*
Frances MacDonald (1873–1921) Scottish
*
Mikalojus Konstantinas Čiurlionis (1875–1911) Lithuanian
*
Stevan Aleksić (1876–1923) Serbian
*
Felice Casorati
Felice Casorati (December 4, 1883 – March 1, 1963) was an Italian painter, sculptor, and printmaker. The paintings for which he is most noted include figure compositions, portraits and still lifes, which are often distinguished by unusual ...
(1883–1963) Italian
*
Anselmo Bucci (1887–1955) Italian
*
Ze'ev Raban (1890–1970) Polish/Israeli
*
Beda Stjernschantz
Beda Maria Stjernschantz (10 December 1867 — 28 May 1910) was one of the first Finnish symbolist painters, whose main creative period was during the 1890s' '' fin de siècle'' epoch.
Beda Stjernschantz was born in Porvoo to ( Blidberg) an ...
(1867—1910) Finnish
Symbolist playwrights
*
Gerhart Hauptmann
Gerhart Johann Robert Hauptmann (; 15 November 1862 – 6 June 1946) was a German dramatist and novelist. He is counted among the most important promoters of literary naturalism, though he integrated other styles into his work as well. He recei ...
(1862–1946) German
*
Federico García Lorca
Federico del Sagrado Corazón de Jesús García Lorca (5 June 1898 – 19 August 1936), known as Federico García Lorca ( ), was a Spanish poet, playwright, and theatre director. García Lorca achieved international recognition as an emblemat ...
(1898–1936) Spanish
*
Maurice Maeterlinck
Maurice Polydore Marie Bernard Maeterlinck (29 August 1862 – 6 May 1949), also known as Count (or Comte) Maeterlinck from 1932, was a Belgian playwright, poet, and essayist who was Flemish but wrote in French. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in ...
(1862–1949) Belgian
*
Lugné-Poe (1869–1940) French
Composers affected by symbolist ideas
*
Richard Wagner
Wilhelm Richard Wagner ( ; ; 22 May 181313 February 1883) was a German composer, theatre director, polemicist, and conductor who is chiefly known for his operas (or, as some of his mature works were later known, "music dramas"). Unlike most o ...
(1813–1883) German
*
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky , group=n ( ; 7 May 1840 – 6 November 1893) was a Russian composer of the Romantic music, Romantic period. He was the first Russian composer Music of Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, whose music would make a lasting impressi ...
(1840–1893) Russian
*
Gabriel Fauré (1845–1924) French
*
Charles Loeffler (1861–1935) American
*
Claude Debussy
(Achille) Claude Debussy (; 22 August 1862 – 25 March 1918) was a French composer. He is sometimes seen as the first Impressionism in music, Impressionist composer, although he vigorously rejected the term. He was among the most infl ...
(1862–1918) French
*
Richard Strauss
Richard Georg Strauss (; 11 June 1864 – 8 September 1949) was a German composer, conductor, pianist, and violinist. Considered a leading composer of the late Romantic music, Romantic and early Modernism (music), modern eras, he has been descr ...
(1864–1949) German
*
Erik Satie
Eric Alfred Leslie Satie (, ; ; 17 May 18661 July 1925), who signed his name Erik Satie after 1884, was a French composer and pianist. He was the son of a French father and a British mother. He studied at the Paris Conservatoire, but was an un ...
(1866–1925) French
*
Alexander Scriabin
Alexander Nikolayevich Scriabin (; russian: Александр Николаевич Скрябин ; – ) was a Russian composer and virtuoso pianist. Before 1903, Scriabin was greatly influenced by the music of Frédéric Chopin and composed ...
(1872–1912) Russian
*
Maurice Ravel
Joseph Maurice Ravel (7 March 1875 – 28 December 1937) was a French composer, pianist and conductor. He is often associated with Impressionism along with his elder contemporary Claude Debussy, although both composers rejected the term. In ...
(1875–1937) French
*
Mikalojus Konstantinas Čiurlionis (1875–1911) Lithuanian
*
Mieczysław Karłowicz (1876–1909) Polish
*
Cyril Scott
Cyril Meir Scott (27 September 1879 – 31 December 1970) was an English composer, writer, poet, and occultist. He created around four hundred musical compositions including piano, violin, cello concertos, symphonies, and operas. He also wrot ...
(1879–1970) English
*
Karol Szymanowski (1882–1937) Polish
*
Lili Boulanger
Marie Juliette "Lili" Boulanger (; 21 August 189315 March 1918) was a French composer and the first female winner of the Prix de Rome composition prize. Her older sister was the noted composer and composition teacher Nadia Boulanger.
Biography ...
(1893–1918) French
Gallery
File:Gustav Klimt - Allegory of Sculpture - 1889.jpg, Gustav Klimt
Gustav Klimt (July 14, 1862 – February 6, 1918) was an Austrian symbolist painter and one of the most prominent members of the Vienna Secession movement. Klimt is noted for his paintings, murals, sketches, and other objets d'art. Klimt's p ...
, Allegory of Skulptur, 1889
File:Toorop, De drie bruiden, 78x98 non bruid helbruid.jpg, Jan Toorop
Johannes Theodorus 'Jan' Toorop[Jan Toorop]
Fernand Khnopff
Fernand Edmond Jean Marie Khnopff (12 September 1858 – 12 November 1921) was a Belgian symbolist painter.
Life Youth and training
Fernand Khnopff was born to a wealthy family that was part of the high bourgeoisie for generations. Khnopff ...
, ''Incense'', 1898
File:Swan princess.jpg, Mikhail Vrubel
Mikhail Aleksandrovich Vrubel (russian: Михаил Александрович Врубель; March 17, 1856 – April 14, 1910, all n.s.) was a Russian painter, draughtsman, and sculptor. A prolific and innovative master in various med ...
, ''The Swan Princess'', 1900
File:Stuck Susanna.jpg, Franz von Stuck
Franz von Stuck (February 23, 1863 – August 30, 1928), born Franz Stuck, was a German painter, sculptor, printmaker, and architect. Stuck was best known for his paintings of ancient mythology, receiving substantial critical acclaim with '' The ...
, ''Susanna und die beiden Alten'', 1913
File:Bloktheatre.jpg, The cover to Aleksander Blok
Alexander Alexandrovich Blok ( rus, Алекса́ндр Алекса́ндрович Бло́к, p=ɐlʲɪˈksandr ɐlʲɪˈksandrəvʲɪtɕ ˈblok, a=Ru-Alyeksandr Alyeksandrovich Blok.oga; 7 August 1921) was a Russian lyrical poet, writer, publ ...
's 1909 book ''Theatre''. Konstantin Somov's illustrations for the Russian symbolist poet display the continuity between symbolism and Art Nouveau
Art Nouveau (; ) is an international style of art, architecture, and applied art, especially the decorative arts. The style is known by different names in different languages: in German, in Italian, in Catalan, and also known as the Moder ...
artists such as Aubrey Beardsley
Aubrey Vincent Beardsley (21 August 187216 March 1898) was an English illustrator and author. His black ink drawings were influenced by Japanese woodcuts, and depicted the grotesque, the decadent, and the erotic. He was a leading figure in the ...
.
File:The last king.jpg, Alfred Kubin, ''The Last King'', 1902
File:Franz von Stuck - Die Sünde 1893.jpg, Franz von Stuck
Franz von Stuck (February 23, 1863 – August 30, 1928), born Franz Stuck, was a German painter, sculptor, printmaker, and architect. Stuck was best known for his paintings of ancient mythology, receiving substantial critical acclaim with '' The ...
, ''Die Sünde'', 1893
File:Gefühl der Abhängigkeit.jpg, Sascha Schneider
Rudolph Karl Alexander Schneider, commonly known as Sascha Schneider (21 September 1870 – 18 August 1927), was a German painter and sculptor.
Biography
Schneider was born in Saint Petersburg in 1870. During his childhood, his family lived ...
''The Feeling of Dependence'', 1920
File:Jupiter and Semele by Gustave Moreau.jpg, Gustave Moreau
Gustave Moreau (; 6 April 1826 – 18 April 1898) was a French artist and an important figure in the Symbolist movement. Jean Cassou called him "the Symbolist painter par excellence".Cassou, Jean. 1979. ''The Concise Encyclopedia of Symbolism.' ...
, '' Jupiter and Semele'', 1894–85
File:Ferdinand Hodler 005.jpg, Ferdinand Hodler, ''The Night'', 1889–90
File:Arnold Böcklin - Die Toteninsel I (Basel, Kunstmuseum).jpg, Arnold Böcklin
Arnold Böcklin (16 October 182716 January 1901) was a Swiss symbolist painter.
Biography
He was born in Basel. His father, Christian Frederick Böcklin (b. 1802), was descended from an old family of Schaffhausen, and engaged in the silk trad ...
– ''Die Toteninsel I'', 1880
File:Malczewski Jacek Przy studni.jpg, Jacek Malczewski, ''Poisoned Well with Chimera'', 1905
File:Mikhail Nesterov 001.jpg, Mikhail Nesterov, ''The Vision of the Youth Bartholomew
''The Vision to the Youth Bartholomew'' (russian: Видение отроку Варфоломею) is a painting by the Russian artist Mikhail Nesterov, the first and best known work in his series on Sergius of Radonezh, a medieval Russian saint. ...
'', 1890
File:La_vetta_-_Cesare_Saccaggi.jpg, , ''La Vetta'', (1898)
See also
*
Abbaye de Créteil
* ''
Belle Époque
The Belle Époque or La Belle Époque (; French for "Beautiful Epoch") is a period of French and European history, usually considered to begin around 1871–1880 and to end with the outbreak of World War I in 1914. Occurring during the era o ...
''
*
Sigmund Freud
Sigmund Freud ( , ; born Sigismund Schlomo Freud; 6 May 1856 – 23 September 1939) was an Austrian neurologist and the founder of psychoanalysis, a clinical method for evaluating and treating psychopathology, pathologies explained as originatin ...
*
Synthetism
* ''
The Yellow Book
''The Yellow Book'' was a British quarterly literary periodical that was published in London from 1894 to 1897. It was published at The Bodley Head Publishing House by Elkin Mathews and John Lane, and later by John Lane alone, and edited by the ...
''
*
Visionary art
References
Further reading
* Anna Balakian, ''The Symbolist Movement: a critical appraisal''. New York: Random House, 1967
*
Michelle Facos, ''Symbolist Art in Context''. London: Routledge, 2011
* Russell T. Clement, ''Four French Symbolists: A Sourcebook on Pierre Puvis de Chavannes, Gustave Moreau, Odilon Redon, and Maurice Denis.'' Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1996.
* Bernard Delvaille, ''La poésie symboliste: anthologie''. Paris: Seghers, 1971.
* John Porter Houston and Mona Tobin Houston, ''French Symbolist Poetry: An Anthology''. Bloomington : Indiana University Press, 1980.
*
Philippe Jullian, ''The Symbolists''. Oxford: Phaidon; New York: E.P. Dutton, 1973.
*
Andrew George Lehmann
Andrew George Lehmann (17 February 1922 – 9 July 2006) was a literary critic, academic, and seminal author and essayist in French Symbolism, and the intellectual history of European Romanticism.
Early life
Born in Chile to Mary Grisel Lehmann ...
, ''The Symbolist Aesthetic in France 1885–1895''. Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1950, 1968
* ''The Oxford Companion to French Literature'',
Sir Paul Harvey and J. E. Heseltine (eds.). Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1959.
*
Mario Praz, ''The Romantic Agony''. London: Oxford University Press, 1930.
*
Arthur Symons
Arthur William Symons (28 February 186522 January 1945) was a British poet, critic and magazine editor.
Life
Born in Milford Haven, Wales, to Cornish parents, Symons was educated privately, spending much of his time in France and Italy. In 1884 ...
, ''
The Symbolist Movement in Literature''. E. P. Dutton and Co., Inc. (A Dutton Paperback), 1958
*
Edmund Wilson
Edmund Wilson Jr. (May 8, 1895 – June 12, 1972) was an American writer and literary critic who explored Freudian and Marxist themes. He influenced many American authors, including F. Scott Fitzgerald, whose unfinished work he edited for publ ...
, ''Axel's Castle: A Study in the Imaginative Literature of 1870–1930.'' New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1931
online version. (
Library of America
The Library of America (LOA) is a nonprofit publisher of classic American literature. Founded in 1979 with seed money from the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Ford Foundation, the LOA has published over 300 volumes by authors rangi ...
)
* Michael Gibson, ''Symbolism'' London: Taschen, 1995
External links
Collection of German Symbolist artThe
Jack Daulton
James (Jack) Daulton (born October 30, 1956) is an American art collector, trial lawyer, music entrepreneur, exploration philanthropist, and expert and lecturer on the history of art and architecture. Daulton rose to fame representing the natio ...
Collection
''Les Poètes maudits''by
Paul Verlaine
Paul-Marie Verlaine (; ; 30 March 1844 – 8 January 1896) was a French poet associated with the Symbolist movement and the Decadent movement. He is considered one of the greatest representatives of the ''fin de siècle'' in international and F ...
ArtMagick The Symbolist GalleryTen Dreams Galleries – extensive article on Symbolism
Gustave Moreau
Gustave Moreau (; 6 April 1826 – 18 April 1898) was a French artist and an important figure in the Symbolist movement. Jean Cassou called him "the Symbolist painter par excellence".Cassou, Jean. 1979. ''The Concise Encyclopedia of Symbolism.' ...
,
Puvis de Chavannes,
Odilon Redon
Literary SymbolismPublished in ''A Companion to Modernist Literature and Culture'' (2006)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Symbolism, arts
Art movements
Literary movements
19th century in art
19th-century theatre
Fantastic art
French poetry
Modern art
Modernism