Symbolism was a late 19th-century art movement of French, Belgian, and Russian origin. Poets and fine artists were seeking to represent absolute truths using metaphorical images in reaction against realism and naturalism. Content of both images and poetry were suggestive contents to express mystical ideas, emotions, and states of mind.
The term was coined 1886 by French critic Joan Moréas only referring to poetry, but it was soon applied to the visual sphere to works by artists such as Gustave Moreau, Odilon Redon, Paul Gauguin in France; Fernand Khnopff and Jean Delville in Belgium; or Dante Gabriel Rossetti, Sir Edward Coley Burne-Jones, George Frederic Watts, and Aubrey Beardsley in Britain. These artists rejected the depiction of the natural world as seen in impressionismImpressionism was an art movement of the 19th century developed in France, based on the practice of painting spontaneously out-doors (“en plein air”) rather than in the studio. Key impressionist subjects were everyday scenes and landscapes, in which the momentary and transient effects of sunlight should be captured. The artists worked directly in front of their subjects, using rapid brushwork More, realism, and naturalism in favour of imaginary dream worlds populated with mysterious contents from literature, specifically from Greek mythology, religious texts, and scriptures. Furthermore, the artists also drew on psychological theories, touching on themes around anguish, desire, love, death, and sexual awakening.