Symbolist Roots of Modern Art

The essays collected here which consider artists from France to Russia and Finland to Greece argue persuasively that Symbolist approaches to content form and subject helped to shape twentieth-century Modernism. Well-known figures such as Kandinsky Khnopff Matisse and Munch are considered alongside lesser-known artists such as Fini Gyzis Koen and Vrubel in order to demonstrate that Symbolist art did not constitute an isolated moment of wild experimentation but rather an inspirational point of departure for twentieth-century developments.