Symbolism in the Past and Today's Art

Symbolism movement appeared in 19 century and the term was used for the first time to define the literary movement by Jean Moréas in the Symbolist Manifesto ('Le Symbolisme', Le Figaro, 18 Sept 1886). However, when it goes about symbols the tradition to use them can be traced back to aboriginal people. These symbols were created on the human body, on the shield, and on other services. The symbols depicted were quite simple – stripes, circle, dots, but they could tell long complicated stories.

Color symbolism in art is also great part of art history. Color symbolism is being studied in various countries and different cultures and religions the same color may mean different things. For instance, black color commonly associated with negative emotions and dark in the West, is perceived as color of joy and light in the East. The same can be said about white color, that is in the West it implies the color of wedding or whatever, while in the East the white is the color of funerals. Culture plays rather important role in color symbolism, in different cultures one and the same color will always be perceived differently.

Symbols have been accompanying us from the very beginning and it is not surprising that such movement as «symbolism» appeared. The movement became a reaction against realism and naturalism and the artists and poets that founded it was known as symbolists. The followers of the movement aimed to depict subjective moods through the symbols, they also has become the authors of such innovation as free verse following the doctrine of ‘pure’ poetry of Edgar Allan Poe.

Symbolism was spread in France and also the influence of the movement was especially notable in European and American literature of the early 20th century. In visual art symbolism also played vital role, painters also used symbols instead of direct statement, they were interested in religion and spirituality. To capture absolute truth was the goal of the symbolism movement. The techniques used were appropriate, they helped to evoke, rather than to describe.

The symbols used by the symbolists painters were personal only, not familiar. The influence of the painting and movement itself is felt on the contemporary Art Nouveau movement and Les Nabis. The most well-known symbolism painters and their works are La mort du fossoyeur ("The death of the gravedigger") by Carlos Schwabe, «The Caress» by Fernand Khnopff's, «Sonata of the Sea. Finale» (1908) by Mikalojus Konstantinas Čiurlionis and this is far notthe whole list.

The work of contemporary artists symbolists also appear in various galleries worldwide. Valeriy Klinkov is one of the painters that follow this style and his works can be viewed on his online gallery at klinkov.com website. This is a nice chance to view the painting of skillful modern artists and also to buy some of the works.