The turn of the 19-20 century is characterized by a vibrant cultural life. At the same time, several directions developed in art at once, which sometimes contradicted, and sometimes, on the contrary, complemented each other. Impressionism and symbolism were especially prominent - directions that enabled art to take a worthy step into the new century.
Symbolism and impressionism originated in France at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries. Before talking about the differences between these two areas, it should be noted that both of them have the same basis. This is due to the fact that symbolism, which appeared several years later, was born precisely thanks to impressionism and, accordingly, inherited some features from it.
Impressionism
Impressionism arose just at a time when artists were trying to find new ways of development. Gradually, an understanding of life as something forever moving. The point is to catch and capture every moment, being able to enjoy the present.
Cheerfulness was originally the basis of impressionism. Adherents tried to show life in bright colors, without reflecting social and serious philosophical problems in their works. In any case, this was the beginning, then there was a split and much has changed.
The name of this trend arose by itself: "impression" means "sensory perception." And at one of the first art exhibitions, one of the critics squeamishly called artists "impressionists." Artists have challenged and accepted this name. As a result, it has lost a negative connotation.
It is logical that impressionism was widely used in painting. Although the ideas of impressionism penetrated into music and literature, more often this word means only artists. Symbolism in this sense went further.
Symbolism
Symbolism is widely spread, both in painting and in literature. A feature of the direction was a certain detachment of art from real life. Adherents of the direction in their consciousness tried to separate two worlds: the "world of ideas" and reality, i.e. "world of things."
Even before the Symbolists, various artistic images were used in art. But they all had a more allegorical character. This means that, for example, the reader, carefully studying the work, could easily understand what exactly is hidden in a particular way. Symbolists are trying to get away from direct explanation.
Fedor Sologub, one of the founders of the trend, spoke very briefly and succinctly about the meaning of the symbol: "A symbol is a window to infinity." This concept of hints and understatement is more characteristic of poetry. And in fact, musicians, writers, painters, who called themselves symbolists, tried to permeate their work with poetry and riddles. A person trying to understand the works could find a huge number of interpretations, each of which had a right to exist.
