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.

Vendez votre âme au diable…

Qui n’a pas été effrayé, enfant, par « le monstre caché dans le placard » ou par la séquence de La Nuit sur le Mont-Chauve, dans Fantasia de Disney ? Qui n’a pas été impressionné, adulte, par les griffures sur le corps de Mia Farrow dans Rosemary’s Baby ou par la scène dans la cabine d’essayage dans L’Associé du diable ? Qui, enfin, peut oublier le visage de la jeune Linda Blair et la voix de Pazuzu après avoir vu L’Exorciste ?

Au xx^e siècle, la religion chrétienne imprègne moins les croyances des individus que par le passé, et pourtant le diable semble nous obséder plus que jamais… En effet, le personnage du diable nourrit toujours l’imaginaire des romanciers, des auteurs de BD ou des réalisateurs.

Si le Moyen Âge et la Renaissance décrivaient souvent un diable effrayant et repoussant, le xix^e siècle, avec les courants romantique et symboliste, en a fait un personnage dont toute la séduction réside dans ce subtil mélange entre répulsion et attirance…


Légende de gauche: Eugène Delacroix, Mephistopheles Flying Over Wittenberg, (Méphistophélès dans les Airs), 1828.
Bibliothèque nationale de France, Paris.
Légende de droite: Michael Pacher, "Saint Wolfgang and the Devil", panel of Pacher's "Fathers of the Church" altarpiece, (detail), c. 1483.
Alte Pinakothek, Munich.

De Gérard Philipe en Méphistophélès à Al Pacino en homme de pouvoir du New York contemporain, les exemples de diables séducteurs – et séduisants ! – ne manquent pas à notre époque… Suivez l’exemple de Marguerite… À votre tour de succomber…


Légende de gauche: Eugène Delacroix, Mephistopheles trying to seduce Marguerite, 1828.
Musée Delacroix, Paris.
Légende de droite: Gérard Philipe as Mephistopheles in René Clair's film La Beauté du diable, 1950.

Exorcisez vos peurs en visitant l’exposition Heaven, Hell, and Dying Well: Images of Death in the Middle Ages, au J. Paul Getty Museum jusqu’au 12 août 2012.
En attendant, signez vous aussi le pacte avec Satan et vendez-lui votre âme : l’e-book  L’Art du Diable contient de superbes reproductions de très haute qualité !

Heaven, Hell and Dying Well

The Christian Church of the Middle Ages was the most important institution of the time, holding an unyielding power over what the general population thought and believed. More often than not, art of the period venerates Jesus in all of His glory, placing him at the centre on a throne, judging who shall pass through the gates of Heaven and who will be banished to eternal damnation. These images gave strength to the many believers while terrifying some skeptics towards belief.


Take Fra Angelico’s The Last Judgement (1425-1430) for example (above). Christ sits in judgement on a white throne surrounded by John, Mary, the saints, and angels, his right hand pointing towards Heaven, while his left indicates Hell. On his right is paradise, a beautiful garden leading to a city on a hill; angels lead the saved to meet their loved ones. To Christ’s left, we see demons forcing the damned back into Hell to take their place for eternal torment. At the very bottom, Satan gets his fill of three sinners while two others wait in his grips.

Once considered terrifying, today these images are subjects of ridicule and disbelief. The length to which believers went to assure their salvation in a place that will more likely than not turn out to be imaginary and intended to ease the fear of death, is simply laughable. Do you believe in God the Almighty and His Son that died for your sins? Should we, in fact, sin more in order to be sure that He died for the right reasons?

See more religiously charged images in Heaven, Hell, and Dying Well: Images of Death in the Middle Ages at The J. Paul Getty Museum, exhibiting until the 12^th August 2012. Furthermore, bring these images home with Art of the Devil, a high-quality art ebook full of detailed images of life after death, stemming from the artists' deepest fears.