The Symbolist painters reference article from the English Wikipedia on 24-Apr-2004
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Symbolist painters

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Symbolist painters were part of a 19th-century movement in which art became infused with mysticism, and by the closely allied Symbolist movement in literature. 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:

Khnopff: The CaressEnlarge

Khnopff: The Caress

External link:

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