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symbolist movement

British  

noun

  1. (usually capital) a movement beginning in French and Belgian poetry towards the end of the 19th century with the verse of Mallarmé, Valéry, Verlaine, Rimbaud, Maeterlinck, and others, and seeking to express states of mind rather than objective reality by making use of the power of words and images to suggest as well as denote

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Example Sentences

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The figure holding its head in a swirling red sunset was inspired by a stay in Berlin in 1892 when the Norwegian, then aged 28, was a leading light of the Symbolist movement.

From Reuters

His mystic tones can be discerned in the smoky light of Monet’s Impression: Sunrise, and they shaped the late-19th-century symbolist movement, which turned away from exterior reality into poetic distillations of feeling.

From The Guardian

Both poets used enigmatic, allusive imagery and are considered part of the Symbolist movement, influencing artists from Debussy to Picasso to Bob Dylan.

From New York Times

Born in Paris in 1848, Gauguin was influential in the symbolist movement as a painter, sculptor and ceramist, and gained wider fame after his death in 1903.

From Reuters

Born in Paris in 1848 and gaining in fame after his death in 1903, Gauguin was influential in the symbolist movement as a painter, sculptor and ceramist.

From Reuters