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.

Paint the Sky with Van Gogh

On the over-arching subject of Symbolism, I’d have to say I am a fan. Beautiful colours and images which ultimately stand for something much deeper and more heartfelt than what is in front of you; colours and symbols which are meant to touch people around the world and bring them together using one piece of art. When it happens successfully, it’s truly amazing.

Take Vincent Van Gogh’s Starry Night (below), a piece recognised across time and place that enlists a quieting of the mind and moment of inner peace, which ultimately stirs in some of us a recognition of the fact that there may be more than just this life. However, some, namely Boy Meets World’s Cory Matthews, view this painting as an attack, a war over a small town. What do you see? More, how does it make you feel?


Vincent van Gogh, The Starry Night, 1889.
Oil on canvas, 73.7 x 92.1 cm.
Museum of Modern Art, New York.

Many Symbolists found modern cities over-bearing and claustrophobic, taking solace in open and expansive bodies of land, water, and sky. Who could blame them, what is more likely to make you smile from the inside out? Massive buildings, smog, and honking horns? Or tall, green trees swaying in the breeze, running barefoot in uncut grasses, and the sun on your face?

Feeling stuck in a season or landscape? Get yourself over to the National Gallery of Scotland before 14 October 2012 and check out all of the Symbolist landscape artists including Van Gogh. Also bring this ebook along to compare with the passing scenery on the way: Vincent van Gogh.

-Le Lorrain Andrews

Turner, Monet, Twombly: An Unlikely Trio

1700s, 1800s, 1900s. British, French, American. Romanticism, Impressionism, Symbolism. Looking at these stats, one might wonder what J.M.W. Turner, Claude Monet, and Cy Twombly have in common. Frankly, I’m still trying to work it out for myself.

Through the bulk of each of these artists’ careers, it is quite clear that their works have very little to absolutely nothing in common, causing one to wonder how on earth they’ve been grouped together in the first place. However, if you focus on the last twenty or so odd years of each other their lives, I suppose it is possible to see that Turner’s work slowly morphed into Impressionism, whether he intended it that way or not. While Twombly’s works, especially Blooming, delve into Impressionism with a focus on nature, clearly Monet’s forte.

Take these two paintings for example. I suppose one could, with their eyes crossed and squinting, relate Turner’s Rio San Luca to Monet’s San Giorgio (below).


J.M.W. Turner, The Rio San Luca alongside the Palazzo Grimani, with the Church of San Luca, c. 1840.
Gouache, pencil and watercolour on paper, 19.1 x 28.1 cm.
The Tate Gallery, London.


Claude Monet, San Giorgio Maggiore, 1908.
Oil on canvas, 59.2 x 81.2 cm.
National Museum Wales, Cardiff.

And maybe, one could close their left eye while squinting with the right and see the similarities Twombly has to offer, as in his Seasons collection:


Cy Twombly, Quattro Stagioni: Inverno, 1993-1994.
Acrylic, oil, and pencil on canvas, 322.9 x 230 cm.
The Tate Gallery, London.

If you ask me, Twombly should consider himself quite lucky to be grouped with such influential artists, while Turner and Monet should be questioning how this came to be and perhaps looking to sue on the grounds of libel, slander, and defamation. What do you think? Am I the crazy one?

Compare and contrast the works of these prolific artists at Tate Liverpool’s exhibition: Turner Monet Twombly: Later Paintings, on until 28 October 2012. Also, admire the works of Monet and Turner at home with these beautifully illustrated books on their lives and works Turner and Monet, both available in print and ebook format.

-Le Lorrain Andrews