Symbolism Flashcards
Edward Munch, The Scream, 1893
Symbolist: “painting of ideas”
most famous work; man in foreground screaming, sharply foreshortened bridge, blood red sky, horizon undulates in curvilinear fashion
expresses anxiety, meant to empathize with artist, existential angst, primal fear before the immensity of nature (like Caspar David Friedrich’s 1808-1810 Monk By the Sea)
shows us spiritual truth behind physical world
based on autobiographical experience; feeling no reality
Auguste Rodin, The Burghers of Calais, 1884-1889
Symbolist: expresses spiritual in commonplace, paves way for sculptural abstraction
100 Years War: England lays siege to Calais, France- agrees to spare city if 6 burghers (leaders) surrender for execution- humiliated in sackcloth and rope halters, carrying keys to city
enlarged hands & feet- symbolically expressive not naturalistically finished
not heroicized- at eye level, anguish and despair in gestures/faces; restless, agitated
