Oh, If I Were a Symbolist

Symbolism: What is it when it’s at home? What was the point that the artists were trying to achieve? And how should it be interpreted?

Let’s start with the what. This was a technique brought into vogue by the young painters of the late 19^th Century, stemming from French literature (and later, Russian and Belgian); this is where many of the Symbolists gathered inspiration from. The aim was to portray the idea of a subject, to give the suggestion of the true meaning only; poetry in art.

 



Gaetano Previati
Creation of Light, 1913
Oil on canvas, 199 x 215 c,
Galleria Nazionale d’Arte Moderna
Rome

 

They accomplished this by using line, colour, and composition (other elements include tone, texture, space, and shape) in their work, and adapted the use of certain images/icons to give their work more meaning and subtext.

Key examples of imagery and symbolism include biblical characters, representative of the emotions that the artists were looking to portray. The main themes were love, lust, death, fear, anger, and sorrow. Characters from mythology (such as Greek) were also employed. Amongst the characters, angels and the Madonna were commonly used to symbolise purity and innocence, whilst characters such as Salome and monsters (like the sphinx) symbolising the femme fatale, love scorned, and the wrath of a temptress. Borrowing also from classical art, the use of the symbolic butterfly (who represented the Greek goddess Psyche) could be interpreted as the mind or the soul.

 



William Degouve de Nuncques
Angels of the Night, 1894
Oil on canvas, 48 x 60 cm
Kröller-Müller Museum
Otterlo

 

Colours are also used for their symbolic characteristics: black may symbolise evil, power, sexuality, wealth, mystery, and mourning (amongst others); black and white combined may represent mourning; blue has been associated with peace, purity (when in association with the Virgin Mary), serenity, and loyalty; brown represents earth, home, and comfort; green can be representative of both nature and envy, as well as youth; orange represents energy and balance; pink may be used to indicate girlish purity and sexuality or childish innocence; purple represents royalty, spirituality, and wisdom; and red can symbolise strong emotions, such as passionate love, excitement, energy, danger, and aggression.

So, if I, in my imaginative Symbolist state, were to start painting some paintings in this style of contemporary stories, what might I be able to include? Well, if someone hired me to paint the most recent love-split of a certain Nashville-based twenty-three year old country singer.....ah, ok, you guessed it... Ms Swift, then I may have to paint a pink sphinx crushing a butterfly held by Eros. Or, for Jennifer Lawrence’s most recent awards win: Clymene (Titan of fame and renown) giving Nike (goddess of victory) a golden laurel crown, the ceremony being presided over by Dionysus (god of parties and festivals... and also wine, which could explain one particularly memorable shot of Jennifer after she accepted her award. You know what I’m talking about...), and applauded by Agon (spirit of contest).

I can see it now: the front pages of the morning’s newspapers would be educational. People would have to dig a little deeper to get to the story. The news would become poetry! I may be getting carried away, but at least consider it... At least one day a year, we should have International Symbolist News day. At least for the Celeb/Gossip magazines: there, I feel, we can use a little education.

To check out some Symbolist paintings for yourself, and truly get to grips with the painters’ meanings after all you have learned reading this article (open for debate), the Finnish National Gallery (Ateneum) is holding an In the Spirit of Symbolism exhibition until the 28^th of April. Should you wish to instead browse through some striking examples a little more locally, I recommend picking up a copy of Nathalia Brodskaya’s Symbolism.

A Life Most Solitary?

The place: Mexico.  The year: Post-1910. Viva la revolución!  Mexico was on the verge of change.  Political instability, the blight of dictatorship, a peasants’ revolt.  If Margaret Mitchell had penned a novel in the midst of such a setting, surely a turbulent love story to equal that of ‘Gone with the Wind’ would have ensued.

We need only look to those well-known Mexican painters Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera for reference.  I could argue that with events such as the Mexican Revolution fresh in everyone’s minds, passions must have run high.  Actions were no longer as restrained.  The freedoms of speech and desire were rife.

Despite the volatile relationship shared by the painters (both of whom had several extra-marital affairs during their time together), I’m going to go out on a limb and say that Kahlo lived in an isolated world.  A pain-filled existence was all she ever knew from the age of 6, when she contracted polio, leaving her left leg crippled. At 18 she was left with life-long injuries following a severe bus accident, including a perforated abdomen and uterus, which led to three terminated pregnancies in later life.

These experiences, and the pain that followed, must undoubtedly have trapped her in a separate universe from her contemporaries.  What solace she may have been looking for in her relationships and affairs, she truly found in her art.  In her art, she was able to express herself.  In her art, she was able to share her suffering.  In her art, she was able to heal.

 


The Two Fridas, 1939. Oil on canvas, 173.5 x 173 cm, Museo de Arte Moderno, Mexico City 



Many of her paintings are self-portraits, symbolising the solitude that she felt; her own figure and visage being the one that she was most familiar with.  However, in several of her paintings she also references Diego, either as a symbol of love or of pain.

One painting which perhaps best characterises the depth of her feelings for Rivera is ‘The two Fridas’.  A double portrait of herself, it shows the Frida that was rejected by Diego at the time of their divorce.  Her heart has been broken, and is bleeding.  The Frida on the right is the Frida that Diego still loves; her heart is whole, and she is holding a small portrait of Diego in her hand.

Amongst her self-portraits, monkeys are a common feature.  In Mexico, the monkey is a symbol of lust.  Kahlo transformed this conception into one of tenderness.  In her painting ‘Self-portrait with monkeys’ she places four monkeys directly around herself, all with tender expression. Two of the monkeys have their paws over her heart.  We may be able to interpret this as her desire for love, not lust.  She is expressing heartache and a desire for a single commitment of love, most probably from Diego, as this was painted during her second marriage to the artist.


Self-Portrait with Monkeys, 1943. Oil on canvas, 81.5 x 63 cm, Jacques and Natasha Gelman Collection, Mexico City

Whilst perhaps it is a good thing that not all scorned, lovesick, hurting women are artists, or have the ability to pen songs – hello, Taylor Swift – (the world would be left reeling at the amount of pent up angst unleashed!),  I for one am grateful for the artistic talents of Frida Kahlo.  Her honesty is touching, her emotions relatable, and her story compelling.  I read it as inspirational that the solitary pain of one woman has the potential ability to affect and heal the lives of others; through her art, it is possible to understand and come to terms with the realms of human emotion.

 

For a closer look at the turbulent life of Kahlo and Rivera in painting, Canadians rejoice!  The Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto is hosting an exhibition of their works, as well as several photographs of the couple, from the 20^th October 2012 – 20^th January 2013.  As well as showing their lives together, these combined works also reflect the couple’s interest in the changing values of post-revolutionary Mexico.  For those living a little too far away from the Canadian border, these paintings can also be found in the works by Gerry Souter: Frida Kahlo and Rivera.