Symbolism and Art Nouveau: Beauty as a Program

Against the Bourgeois World

The years 1880–1910 mark an era when some artists and designers decide: one must create total beauty, opposing the ugliness of the industrial city and bourgeois taste. Symbolism in painting and Art Nouveau in applied arts are two sides of one movement: art as a refuge, as a spiritual space, as an alternative reality.

Symbolism: The Invisible Through the Visible

Symbolism rejects depiction of the real world in favor of the symbol, dream, and myth. “Depict not things, but the effect they produce” (Paul Verlaine, 1882). This is a programmatic subjectivity: the main thing is not the object, but the inner response.

Gustav Klimt (1862–1918) — leader of the Vienna Secession (the Austrian version of Art Nouveau). “The Kiss” (1907–1908) — a couple in golden radiance, the space is undefined: flowers, ornamentation, there is no top or bottom, no space — only presence. Gold refers to Byzantium and the Renaissance; ornament — to Japanese art. Klimt studied historical styles, synthesized, and created something new.

His “Judith I” (1901) — the biblical story through an erotic image. Judith killed Holofernes and holds his head; her face is ecstatic. This is not cruelty — it is sexual power. Symbolists often portrayed a woman as a fatal force: “femme fatale” — an image reflecting male fears of female emancipation.

Edvard Munch (1863–1944) — Norwegian symbolist, precursor to Expressionism. “The Scream” (1893) — one of the most famous paintings in the world. A figure on a bridge, open sky in red-orange waves, landscape in anxious lines. Munch wrote in his diary: “I was walking with friends — the sun was setting, the sky became blood red. I stopped, felt an endless fatigue... and heard the infinite scream of nature.” This is the externalization of anxiety — the world “screams” around the inner state.

Art Nouveau: Total Art

Art Nouveau (circa 1890–1910) is a movement for “total art”: not only painting, but also architecture, furniture, jewelry, posters, tableware should be beautiful. This is a reaction to industrial production of ugly, lifeless things.

Hector Guimard in France designs entrances to the Paris Metro: cast iron, plant forms, not a single straight angle, organic shape. They have survived to this day — part of Parisian urban aesthetics.

Alphonse Mucha (1860–1939) creates posters for actress Sarah Bernhardt: female figures in ornamental frames, flowers, snake-like lines. His posters turn commercial advertising into art. This is a direct predecessor of modern graphic design.

Antonio Gaudí (1852–1926) in Barcelona builds Casa Milà (“The Quarry”), Park Güell, Casa Batlló, and Sagrada Família — a unique synthesis of Catholic symbolism, natural forms, and engineering genius. The Sagrada Família has been under construction since 1882 and remains unfinished to this day. It is a living architectural object.

Modern Style in Russia

Art Nouveau entered Russia as “Modern Style” roughly in the years 1900–1910. The Ryabushinsky Mansion (Shekhtel, 1902) in Moscow is the best example: flowing lines of the façade, mosaics, stained-glass windows, furniture in a unified style. Fyodor Shekhtel is the chief architect of Russian Modern.

Mikhail Vrubel (1856–1910) — a Russian symbolist of international scale. “The Demon Seated” (1890) — a figure against a mountainous background, of impossible violet-blue color. Vrubel searched for the form of the “demon” as a symbol of loneliness and rebellion. He ended his life in a psychiatric hospital, blind. His “mosaic” technique — breaking form into sparkling facets — foreshadows Cubism.

Design as Value

The Art Nouveau movement posed a fundamental question: must ordinary objects be beautiful? Art Nouveau’s answer: yes, and this creates a better quality of life. This is a precursor of modern design thinking, which asserts that form and user experience matter.

Companies like Apple, IKEA, Tesla operate in the Art Nouveau paradigm: everyday things can be beautiful, and that is a competitive advantage. A client surrounded by beautiful things feels differently — this is not an illusion, this is a psychologically documented fact.

Reflection Question: Art Nouveau asserted that beauty is not a luxury, but a necessity. In which space (work, home, urban) can you influence the level of aesthetics? What will this change?