SYMBOLISM

Against realism May 1884 saw the publication in Paris of a fin de sičcle novel thatbecame a perverse sensation on the European cultural scene. AReboursAgainst the Grain and Against Nature) by Joris-Karl Huysmans waswritten as a seductive textbook of decadence, an antidote to the"banality" of the dominant literary styles, Naturalism and Realism.Symbolism, whose influence would endure well into the modernist era, wasan artistic religion-substitute, a spiritually charged cult of beauty. ASymbolist picture or sculpture is deliberately mysterious. In place ofintellectual comprehension, the work seeks to have the beholder experienceits esoteric depths like a vision. It is no wonder that Symbolists createdsome of the most fascinating artworks of their age. Featured artists: Arnold Böcklin, Edward Burne-Jones, Puvis de Chavannes,Thomas Cole, Jean Delville, Maurice Denis, James Ensor, George Frampton,Paul Gauguin, Ferdinand Hodler, Ernst Josephson, Fernand Khnopff, GustavKlimt, Max Klinger, Georg Kolbe, Frantisek Kupka, Frederick Lord Leighton,Jacek Malczewski, Hans von Marees, James Abbot McNeill Whistler, PietMondrian, Gustave Moreau, Edvard Munch, Néstor, William Degouve deNunques, Pablo Picasso, Odilon Redon, Félicien Rops, Dante GabrielRossetti, Giovanni Segantini, Charles van der Stappen, Franz von Stuck,Félix Vallotton, Elihu Vedder, and Georg Frederick Watts (translated bothas