Symbolism

Unusual colors, simplified figures and dreamlike settings invite meanings beyond what is pictured. Symbolist artists explored emotion, myth and spiritual questions through suggestion. Their approaches ranged from imagined worlds to Munch’s everyday anxieties. Shared concerns connect these artists across Europe and overlap Post-Impressionism, without giving every work the same technique or meaning. Start with the mood before trying to decode every object. A repeated shape, a figure’s isolation or a strange color can suggest an inward state without telling one fixed story. Symbolist concerns also appear in Gauguin’s work, reminding us that these historical labels can overlap rather than divide artists into exclusive camps. Connected places: Paris · Norway · Finland.

• The Sacred Grove, Beloved of the Arts and the MusesPierre Puvis de Chavannes, 1884–89
• The Girl by the WindowEdvard Munch, 1893
• Ad AstraAkseli Gallen-Kallela, 1894–96
• Flower CloudsOdilon Redon, c. 1903
• Hercules and the Lernaean HydraGustave Moreau, 1875–76
• Oedipus and the SphinxGustave Moreau, 1864
• The Love SongSir Edward Burne-Jones, 1868–77
• Island of the DeadArnold Böcklin, 1880
• PandoraOdilon Redon, ca. 1914
• Ruin by the SeaArnold Böcklin, 1881
• Armand BertonEugène Carrière, c. 1891
• Madame CaseEugène Carrière, after September 1900, probably summer 1901
• The Good SamaritanGustave Moreau, c. 1865–70
• The Poor: The Waiting Room of DeathHarald Slott-Møller, 1888
• After SunsetLaurits Andersen Ring, 1899
• Symbolic HeadOdilon Redon, c. 1890
• OrpheusOdilon Redon, c. 1903–10
• In the Waves (Dans les Vagues)Paul Gauguin, 1889
• Ia Orana Maria (Hail Mary)Paul Gauguin, 1891
• Inter artes et naturam (Between Art and Nature)Pierre Puvis de Chavannes, ca. 1890–95
• SummerPierre Puvis de Chavannes, 1891
• The Shepherd's SongPierre Puvis de Chavannes, 1891