Christa Giles

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unity was attained through the fusion of design (colour,
form) and subjective emotion. New formal methods created
new meaning. Well in advance of any public recognition
Huysmans lauded Cezanne as a ˝colorist of revelation,˝ and
recognized how the use of colour and form in a non-realistic
manner actually produces a more truthful or real vision:
In full illumination, in porcelain compotes or
on white cloths, brutal rough pears and
apples, shaped with a trowel, intensified with
twists of the thumb. Seen close to, a rough
assemblage of vermillion and yellow, of green
and blue from a distance, the correct one,
fruits meant for Chevet’s show windows, full
savored and savory, enviable. 585
The Symbolists placed an even greater emphasis
upon the movement from the material to the spiritual, or
rather putting the material to the use of the spiritual. The
Belgian Symbolist Fernand Khnopff carried the obsession of
subjectivity and introspection to its extreme, believing that
art should make the subjective objective. In a total rejection
of the outside world he shut himself away and focussed on
reveries, dreams, and fantasy. The title of his painting of l89l
– ˝I Lock My Door Upon Myself,˝ taken from a Christina
Rossetti poem – symbolizes this turning inward. Khnopff
used photographic images repeatedly in his work, thereby