Symbolism in art
Symbolism uses visual elements to represent ideas beyond their literal meaning. Artists rely on symbols to convey complex concepts, set moods, and pull viewers into deeper engagement with a piece. For a Drawing I course, understanding symbolism gives you a concrete toolkit for making your drawings say something more than what's physically on the page.
Defining symbolism
A symbol is any visual element that stands for something other than itself. It could be an object, a color, a shape, or a figure that carries meaning within the context of your artwork. A drawn apple isn't just fruit; depending on context, it might represent temptation, knowledge, or mortality.
Symbolism works because it invites interpretation. Rather than spelling out an idea directly, you give the viewer something to decode. That gap between what's depicted and what's meant is where the real power of a drawing lives.
History of symbolism
Symbolist movement origins
The Symbolist movement emerged in the late 19th century as a reaction against Realism and Naturalism. Where Realist painters tried to show the world as it looked, Symbolist artists wanted to express inner thoughts, emotions, and spiritual ideas through suggestive, enigmatic imagery. They drew on mythology, mysticism, and the subconscious mind for source material.
Key Symbolist artists
- Gustave Klimt (The Kiss, The Tree of Life) layered ornamental patterns and allegorical figures to explore love, death, and the human condition.
- Odilon Redon (The Cyclops, The Chariot of Apollo) built dreamlike, fantastical images that reached into imagination and the subconscious.
- Edvard Munch (The Scream, Madonna) used distorted forms and intense color to convey psychological anguish and existential anxiety.
Symbols and meanings
Common symbols
Some symbols are so widely used that their meanings feel almost automatic:
- A dove for peace, a heart for love, a skull for mortality
- Natural elements carry symbolic weight too: water often suggests purity or change, fire suggests passion or destruction, and trees suggest growth or endurance
- Animals frequently stand in for human traits: a lion for courage, a snake for temptation, a butterfly for transformation
These common symbols give you a shared visual vocabulary with your viewer, but they can also feel generic if you don't put your own spin on them.
Cultural variations
The same symbol can mean very different things depending on cultural context. White, for instance, symbolizes purity and innocence in much of Western art, but in many East Asian cultures it's associated with death and mourning. When you use symbols in your work, consider the cultural background of both yourself and your audience. A symbol that feels obvious to you might read completely differently to someone else.
Personal symbols
Artists often build their own symbolic language over time, assigning private meanings to specific objects, colors, or motifs. Frida Kahlo is a strong example: she repeatedly drew on monkeys (companionship and protection), thorns (suffering), and broken columns (her injured spine) to represent her physical and emotional pain. These personal symbols added intimacy and specificity that universal symbols alone couldn't achieve.
Symbolism techniques
Allegorical representations
Allegory uses characters, events, or images to represent abstract ideas or moral concepts. It often draws from mythology, literature, or religious texts to build a narrative with a deeper meaning underneath. Think of a figure holding scales to personify Justice, or a skeleton riding a horse to represent Death. In your drawings, allegory gives you a way to tell a story that operates on two levels at once.
Metaphorical imagery
Metaphorical symbolism creates visual comparisons between seemingly unrelated things. By placing different elements side by side or combining them, you build associations that wouldn't exist otherwise. Salvador Dalí's melting clocks in The Persistence of Memory are a classic example: the soft, drooping watches become a metaphor for time's fluidity and unreliability.
In drawing, you can achieve this by altering an object's expected properties (scale, texture, context) to suggest a second meaning.
Dream-like scenes
Symbolist artists frequently drew from dreams, visions, and the subconscious to create surreal compositions. These scenes blur the line between reality and imagination, which frees you from having to make logical sense. Marc Chagall's I and the Village layers floating figures, inverted houses, and overlapping faces to evoke nostalgia and memory. For your own work, dream-like imagery lets you combine symbols in unexpected ways without needing to justify them rationally.
Symbolism vs. realism
Symbolism and Realism sit at different ends of a spectrum. Realism aims to depict the world as it appears, without idealization or hidden meaning. Symbolism prioritizes inner experience and ideas over accurate observation.
The practical difference for your drawings: a Realist approach to a wilting flower focuses on getting the petals, shadows, and textures right. A Symbolist approach uses that same wilting flower to say something about loss, aging, or fragility. Neither approach is better; they just serve different purposes.
Symbolism and abstraction
Abstract symbols
Symbolism doesn't require recognizable imagery. Abstract forms, shapes, and colors can carry meaning through the viewer's intuitive and emotional responses rather than through direct representation. Wassily Kandinsky, a pioneer of abstract art, argued that specific colors and shapes could evoke distinct spiritual and emotional states: sharp angles might suggest tension, while soft curves might suggest calm.
Non-representational art
Non-representational art pushes symbolism to its furthest point by abandoning recognizable subject matter entirely. The work communicates through the raw qualities of line, color, and form. Mark Rothko's color field paintings, for instance, use large expanses of layered color to create meditative, almost transcendent emotional experiences. There's no "thing" depicted, yet viewers often report powerful emotional responses.
For your drawing practice, this is worth noting: even a composition of pure marks and tones can function symbolically if the visual choices are intentional.
Psychological aspects
Unconscious influences
Symbolist artists were often influenced by psychoanalytic theory and the exploration of the unconscious mind. Symbolism gave them a way to access subconscious desires, fears, and impulses, both their own and the viewer's. The sometimes disturbing or enigmatic imagery in Symbolist art can be understood as surfacing hidden or repressed aspects of the psyche.
Emotional resonance
Because symbolic meaning isn't always immediately obvious, it requires the viewer to sit with the work and bring their own experiences to it. That ambiguity is a feature, not a flaw. When a viewer projects their own emotions onto your drawing, a personal connection forms between them and the work. This is one of the main reasons symbolism remains such an effective strategy: it makes the viewer an active participant rather than a passive observer.
Symbolism in composition
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Symbolic arrangements
How you arrange elements in a drawing can carry symbolic weight on its own. Symmetry can suggest balance, order, or formality. Asymmetry can create tension or unease. Placing a figure at the top of the composition versus the bottom can imply dominance or vulnerability. The spatial relationships between objects or figures can suggest power dynamics, emotional closeness, or narrative conflict.
Symbolic color use
Color is one of the most immediate symbolic tools available to you. In Western art traditions:
- Red often signals passion, danger, or sacrifice
- Blue can evoke calmness, spirituality, or sadness
- Black suggests death, mystery, or authority
- Gold/yellow can imply divinity, warmth, or decay depending on context
Even in a graphite drawing, your value choices (how dark or light you make areas) function similarly. High contrast can feel dramatic or confrontational; soft, close values can feel quiet or melancholic.
Contemporary symbolism
Modern symbolic art
Symbolism remains a major force in contemporary art. Artists today use symbolic elements to address social, political, and personal issues, drawing from a much wider pool of references than the original Symbolists had access to: popular media, technology, global cultural traditions, and internet culture all feed into the symbolic vocabulary.
Kiki Smith, for example, uses imagery drawn from folklore and mythology to explore gender, identity, and the body. Her work shows how traditional symbolic sources can be reframed to speak to current concerns.
Evolving symbolic language
Symbolic meaning isn't fixed. As culture shifts, symbols gain new associations or lose old ones. Contemporary artists sometimes deliberately subvert traditional symbols, flipping their expected meanings, or invent entirely new ones that reflect modern life. Digital media and new technologies have also expanded the possibilities, allowing for immersive and interactive symbolic experiences that go well beyond a single image on paper.
Analyzing symbolic works
Interpretation strategies
When you encounter a symbolic artwork, a few steps can help you unpack its meaning:
- Observe closely. Look at the specific visual elements: color choices, forms, composition, and any recurring motifs.
- Identify potential symbols. Ask what each element might represent beyond its literal appearance.
- Research the artist. The artist's biography, influences, and historical moment often reveal why certain symbols were chosen.
- Consider the title. Titles can confirm, complicate, or redirect your reading of the symbols.
- Look for patterns. If an artist uses the same symbol across multiple works, that repetition usually signals something central to their practice.
Contextual considerations
Your interpretation of a symbolic work will always be shaped by your own cultural background, personal experiences, and knowledge of art history. That's expected and even valuable. Approach symbolic works with openness to multiple readings rather than hunting for a single "correct" answer. Discussing interpretations with classmates or peers can reveal layers of meaning you might not catch on your own.
Symbolism project ideas
Symbolic self-portrait
Create a self-portrait that uses symbolic elements to represent aspects of your identity, personality, or life experiences. Choose colors, objects, or settings that hold personal significance or trigger specific emotions. The goal is to express something about yourself that a straightforward likeness couldn't capture. Before you start drawing, make a short list of 3-5 things you want to communicate and brainstorm which symbols might carry those meanings.
Personal mythology creation
Develop a series of drawings that build a personal mythology or symbolic narrative. Create characters, settings, and events that represent different parts of your inner world or creative vision. Use symbolism to layer deeper meanings into the work, inviting viewers to engage on both a personal and archetypal level. Think of this as world-building through drawing: each piece should stand on its own but also connect to the others through shared symbols and themes.