The turn of the 19th and 20th centuries is characterized by a vibrant cultural life. At the same time, several directions developed at once in art, which sometimes contradicted, and sometimes, on the contrary, supplemented each other. Impressionism and symbolism stood out especially - directions that made it possible for art to step into a new century with dignity.
Symbolism and impressionism originated in France at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries. Before talking about the differences between these two directions, 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 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 eternally moving arose. The point is to catch and capture every moment, being able to enjoy the present.
Cheerfulness was originally the foundation of Impressionism. The adherents tried to show life in bright colors, without reflecting in their works social and serious philosophical problems. In any case, this was the case at the beginning, then a split occurred and a lot 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 disgustedly called the artists "impressionists". Artists challenged and adopted this name. As a result, it lost its negative connotation.
It is very logical that impressionism became widespread in painting. Although the ideas of impressionism have penetrated into music and literature, more often this word still means only artists. Symbolism in this sense went further.
Symbolism
Symbolism became widespread, 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 minds tried to separate two worlds: the "world of ideas" and reality, ie. "The world of things".
Even before the Symbolists, various artistic images were used in art. But they were all more of an allegorical character. This means that, for example, the reader, carefully studying the work, could easily understand what exactly is hidden behind a particular image. The Symbolists, on the other hand, try to avoid direct explanation.
Fedor Sologub, one of the founders of the direction, very briefly and succinctly spoke 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 reality, musicians, writers, artists who called themselves symbolists, tried to permeate their works with poetry and riddles. A person trying to understand works could find a huge number of interpretations, each of which had the right to exist.
Impact on consciousness
Despite the fact that Symbolism took over from Impressionism its main property - to be able to capture the movement of life and influence the feelings of a person, this direction has significantly expanded the understanding of the meaning of art. The symbolists had another task - to teach a person to perceive the "world of ideas" as a separate substance and to prove that one word, one object of the material world can have completely different, even opposite meanings in unreality. Now, along with the influences on the senses, there was to be an effect on the consciousness.
