Symbolism is a style and movement in the visual arts that employs secret signs, allegories and ciphers. For the Symbolist artist it is important to convey to the viewer a hidden philosophical or mystical message by which the viewer will discover the author’s true intent. Mysterious signs have been used in art since ancient times. They can be found on the papyri of ancient Egypt, in Babylonian art, in Antiquity, on Christian icons, and in many other places. By the way, in the early days of Christianity its followers were persecuted and forced to hide; to recognize fellow believers and stay safe they used the sign of the fish worn on themselves — the fish was their symbol of Jesus Christ.
In the Early Renaissance masters often used symbols on religious and mythological themes. A vivid example of that era are the paintings of Hieronymus Bosch, the symbolism of which, it should be noted, is difficult to interpret unequivocally today.
In the Dutch Golden Age of painting, influenced by a deep reverence for symbolism, a new offshoot appears: a subgenre of still life — 'Vanitas' (literally 'Vanity of vanities'). Thus, in the paintings of the little Dutch masters one can find symbols of the transience of life: skulls, musical instruments, withered flowers and extinguished candles.
In the 18th–19th centuries the ideas of Symbolism penetrated the landscape genre, whose best-known representative is Caspar David Friedrich. The symbolism of his paintings is simple and clear, and at the same time has a profound spiritual meaning. Friedrich's works are fashioned in the spirit of European Romanticism, from which Symbolism will grow into a distinct artistic movement. Both movements aim at the search for a high spiritual principle, with the only difference that for the Romantics the greatest mystery of life lies in the knowledge of one’s inner world, whereas for the Symbolists it lies in Absolute Being.
Despite its long history, Symbolism as an independent, self-sufficient movement only became known to the general public in 1886. It was then that the French poet Jean Moréas published his 'Manifesto of Symbolism', and the term 'Symbolism' was heard for the first time. In his Manifesto he writes: 'Symbolist poetry attempts to clothe the Idea in a perceptible form.' 'All the phenomena of our life are significant for the art of symbols not in themselves, but only as intangible reflections of primordial Ideas, indicating their secret kinship with them. It is the symbol that can lead man to the Idea; the revelations bestowed upon the poet are the key to the beautiful world that religion once promised.' That is, the Idea is primary and its expression is secondary; for this purpose artists borrow both academic and modernist artistic techniques. Also important are the searches for a new artistic language to express complex hidden meanings; at the same time there is a cult of beauty and mystery, decadent moods (especially in poetry), and a worship of unattainable ideals.
One of the forefathers in shaping the aesthetics of Symbolism was also the French poet Charles Baudelaire. He imagined that all phenomena of the world are united by invisible, thread-like resemblances, and only the prophet of the world of art — an artist or a poet — can see them and translate the mysterious symbols into a language understandable to the viewer.
Symbolism also draws on the words of the philosopher Plotinus: 'We cling to the outward surface of things, not knowing that what moves us is precisely what lies within them.'
And in 'The Treasure of the Humble' the Belgian philosopher and dramatist Maurice Maeterlinck wrote: 'As soon as the lips fall asleep, the souls awake and begin to act. And to know what exists in reality, one must cultivate silence within oneself, for only in it do unexpected and eternal flowers momentarily open, changing shape and color according to whom one is in communion with.'
As Stéphane Mallarmé wrote: 'To name an object is to destroy three quarters of the poetic pleasure, which consists in the bliss of gradual guessing; to suggest it — that is the dream.'
In Symbolist painting there appears a dissolution of the clarity of forms and an increase in colouristic and rhythmic accents, thereby enhancing the expressiveness of metaphysical objects; symbols can be the most varied of things. For example: the number 7 — completeness (seven days of the week, seven deadly sins, seven colors of the rainbow); the olive branch — peace; the owl — wisdom, sleep or death; the infant — a pure soul; the chalice — Christ's redemptive sacrifice; the skull — the nearness of death; the hourglass — the transience of being.
