Symbolism

Question 1

From when did symbolism flourish

Answer 1

Symbolism flourished throughout Europe between 1886 and 1900 in almost every area of the arts.

Question 2

What was symbolism

Answer 2

Symbolism was a late 19th-century art movement of French, Russian 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.

Question 3

Emergance of Symbolism

Answer 3

Initially emerging in literature, including poetry, philosophy and theatre, it then spread to music and the visual arts.

Question 4

WhAt was symbolism in response to realism

Answer 4

Symbolism was an art movement in response to Realism and Impressionism. Poets, musicians, artists, and writers all used Symbolism to express meaning in an indirect manner.

Symbolist painters wanted their pictures to depict a meaning beyond just the figures they drew.

Question 5

What was Symbolism a reaction in favour of?

Answer 5

• 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, and dreams.

Question 6

In painting what can symbolism be seen as?

Answer 6

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.

Question 7

What type of imagery did symbolist painters use?

Answer 7

-The symbolist painters used mythological and dream imagery. The symbols used by symbolism are not the familiar emblems of mainstream iconography but intensely personal, private, obscure and ambiguous references.

Question 8

Variety of Subjects in Symbolism

Answer 8

Heroes

• Women
• Animals
• Landscapes.

Question 9

What were the common deal meaning of the subjects

Answer 9

• love
• death
• sin
• religion
• disease

Question 10

What would symbolist painters use go represent something?

Answer 10

They would use metaphors (or symbols) rather than real life to represent something.

Question 11

What scense did symbolist paintings look like

Answer 11

• are dim, nightmarish scenes where artistic imagination is overtaken by the morbid and the macabre.
• The visions are otherworldly and mystical.

-Haunting, mysterious figures, evil women,
supernatural monsters and demons.

-The atmosphere is always unsettling and gloomy.

Question 12

Symbolism v Romanticism

Similarities

Answer 12

-Both had an intrest in mysticism and hortific visions

Question 13

Symbolism v Romanticism

Differences

Answer 13

-The Romantics had a fascination with nature and how we’ve become alienated from it.The Symbolists were not interested in that.

• As for the violent, dream-like scenes of Romantic art, unlike the Symbolist ones,
  they were moments of action – heavily dramatic.
• They were also rebellious and often contained a political message. On the other hand, the Symbolist figures are statuesque, eternally suspended in motion against haunting landscapes.

Question 14

What is the basic meaning symbolisim

Answer 14

Symbolism is really an intellectual form of expressionism.

Question 15

What were symbolist painters and sculptures inspired by

Answer 15

painters and sculptors were inspired by literature and poetry of the day, as well as the history, legends, myths, Biblical stories and fables of the past

Question 16

In expressing themselves what did the painters and sculptures endow thier subjects with?

Answer 16

In expressing themselves, symbolist artists endowed their subjects (eg. women, heroic males, flowers, landscapes, animals), with mythological or other esoteric meanings.

Question 17

What did many artists do to feul their imagination

Answer 17

Many artists turned to stimulants like alcohol and drugs to fuel their imagination.

Question 18

What did favourite symbolist subjects include.

Answer 18

-Favourite symbolist subjects included: sensual issues, religious feelings, occultism, love, death, disease and sin, while decadence was a common feature.

Question 19

What was the central theme of symbolist art

Answer 19

-theme of Symbolist art is the visualization of aspects of human spiritual life; the conflict between feelings and passions such as ;
joy
sorrow
fear
love
eroticism

-Often, the illustrations returned to a preformulated vocabulary via myths and poems and were created based on the repertoire of shapes and motifs found in Greek mythology and the Bible.