Friend of Georges Seurat, his paintings were overtly Symbolist in the late 19th century, featuring St Genevieve, Hesiod and a muse.
Puvis de Chavannes
He was a friend of the Divisionist Georges Seurat, but in the late 1880s became a strict Symbolist. A small but fine selection of his paintings.
Dreams painted by more modern artists, from William Blake to Paul Nash. These tend to become progressively harder to read.
A painting based on one of Schubert’s songs expressing the inevitability of death, a Christ-like fisherman, and sacred groves – from one of the fathers of Symbolism.
Paintings by Puvis were the antithesis of realism, Impressionism, and the Academic. They became popular after the Franco-Prussian War.
After the huge death toll of the war, including 2 major painters, a week in Paris in May resulted in a further 7,000 deaths, and the destruction of public buildings. Hardly a painter in France wasn’t affected.
Some paintings which may not show the traditional story from the gospels, but which don’t contradict it.
Their works are rich in light and colour, strongly evocative of one of the most successful artists colonies of the nineteenth century, and include some of the most lyrical paintings of the whole century.
The Eclectic Light Company 