Early in 1896, several artists who exhibited at the Salons set up a rival exhibition. The following year was the last of Péladan’s and his movements petered out by the twentieth century.
symbolism
The apogee of the Symbolist Movement in France was run by its self-appointed high priest, Joséphin Péladan. A selection of paintings from its early years to 1894.
His portraits aren’t simple likenesses, but personal narratives which can be difficult to read now because loss of their context.
Brilliant paintings of Poles exiled to Siberia, Thanatos as a woman, Medusa, and the story of Tobias and the angel.
Brilliantly coloured butterflies and flowers, Buddha, and a small sailing boat were among recurrent themes in his later work.
It was his charcoal drawings and prints which first started showing weird chimeras. They then migrated to his canvas in strange but exquisite paintings.
His late paintings were a mixture of symbolism and classical myth. Prominent are murals and a mosaic in the Library of Congress.
Mainly paintings of classical mythology, including Marsyas Enchanting the Hares, and several developed from his illustrations for The Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám.
Dividing his life between New York and Rome, by 1870 he was painting Symbolist masterpieces and superb landscapes in Italy.
Thirteen paintings tracing The Creation of the World, made in 1905-06 by this Lithuanian composer and painter.
The Eclectic Light Company 