Symbolism

1880–1910

Art as portal to dreams, mythology, the unconscious. Color freed from representation to serve mystical vision.

Moreau's jewel-encrusted surfaces. Redon's pastels on black paper. Personal, anti-naturalistic palettes.

2 artists12 colors

Gustave Moreau

1826–1898

French

Painter of mythological visions with jewel-encrusted surfaces. His studio became the Musée Gustave Moreau.

Built up thick, encrusted surfaces with palette knife — gemstone-like texture. Gold paint and metallic pigments.

Odilon Redon

1840–1916

French

Master of the dreamlike. Early noir charcoals gave way to explosions of pastel color — flowers, butterflies, cosmic visions.

Unique pastel-on-black technique — brilliant color emerging from darkness. His late pastels are the most luminous in 19th-century art.