Flourished mainly in France during the 1880s & 90s, although its currents spread through most of Europe. The Romantics & Pre-Raphaelites were its spiritual predecessors. As opposed to allegory, its iconic forms were not intended as equivalents of ideas or emotions, but as ambiguous evocations of them. The imaginative juxtapositions in these works inspired the Surrealists.
- The Random House Dictionary of Art