Symbolism: What is it when it’s at home? What was the point that the artists were trying to achieve? And how should it be interpreted? Let’s start with the what. This was a technique brought into vogue by the young painters of the late 19th Century, stemming from French literature (and later, Russian and Belgian); this is where many of the Symbolists gathered inspiration from. The aim was to portray the idea of a subject, to give the suggestion of the true meaning only; poetry in art. They accomplished this by using line, colour, and composition (other elements include tone, texture, space, and shape) in their work, and adapted the…