
You're Symbolism!
In late the 1800s, the world of art was filled with
art movements which all seemed to promote some
external cause. A group of poets, writers, and
artist got fed up with this exploitation of
art, and founded a new art movement, symbolism,
whose primary cause was to create art just for
the sake of creating art. In visual arts,
symbolists were quite flexible when it came to
the technique - their styles varied from
traditional to impressionist and expressionist
- but the contents of their works of
art were always, needless to say, symbolic.
What they painted didn't always directly
correspond to what they were actually
portraying; a young boy getting out of bed in
the morning may have portrayed coming in age, a
skeleton represented death, and an angel stood
for innocence, for instance. The right
interpretation was usually left to the viewer.
The atmosphere in symbolist works of art was
often spooky, mystical, dreamy, and sensual.
Famous symbolists: Gustave Moreau, Hugo Simberg
Picture: The Wounded Angel by Hugo Simberg
Which Art Movement Are You? (pictures) brought to you by Quizilla