Symbolism was a late-19th-century movement in literature and visual arts that explored metaphorical, visionary and dreamlike subject matter. As the poet Gustave Kahn described it, “[t]he aim of our art is to objectify the subjective in place of subjectifying the objective.” Painters associated with Symbolism include Gustave Moreau, Odilon Redon, Ferdinand Hodler and Fernand Khnopff.

Charles Maurin. The Dawn of the Dream. Oil on canvas. Ca. 1891. Musée d’art moderne et contemporain, Saint Étienne Métropole, France.