Symbolist painters

Symbolist painters were part of a 19th-century movement in which art became infused with mysticism. It was a continuation of the Romantic tradition, which included such artists as Caspar David Friedrich and John Henry Fuseli.

The Symbolist painters mined mythology and dream imagery for a visual language of the soul, seeking evocative paintings that brought to mind a static world of silence. More a philosophy than an actual style of art, they influenced the contemporary Art Nouveau movement and Les Nabis. In their exploration of dreamlike subjects they are also precursors of the Surrealists, some of whom might be best explained as Symbolism plus Freud.

The leading Symbolists included:

• William Blake - (1757-1827)
• Arnold Böcklin - (1827-1901)
• Pierre Puvis de Chavannes - (1824-1898)
• Henri Fantin-Latour (1836 - 1904)
• Fernand Khnopff - (1858-1921)
• Gustav Klimt - (1862-1918)
• Gustave Moreau - (1826-1898)
• Edvard Munch - (1863-1944)
• Odilon Redon - (1840-1916)
• Félicien Rops - (1855-1898)
• Jan Toorop - (1858-1928)

External link:

The Symbolist Gallery at ArtMagick: http://www.artmagick.com/gallery/symbolism.aspx