Van Gogh to Kandinsky: Symbolist Landscape in Europe 1880-1910

A European first, the Scottish National Gallery will be hosting an entire exhibition dedicated to Symbolist landscapes.

Vincent van Gogh, The Sower, 1888 © Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam

Vincent van Gogh, The Sower, 1888

In the late 19th century, Symbolist artists reacted against the growing industrialisation of Europe and abandoned attempts to faithfully reproduce the visible world in favour of dreamier evocations of states of mind. Their landscapes variously represent visions of death, infinity and the cosmos, feelings of nationalism or ideas about science and the modern age. In this, some 70 poetical paintings of nature by artists including Van Gogh, Gauguin, Redon, Böcklin and Kandinsky offer a new perspective on the movement.


Venue details

Scottish National Gallery The Mound, Edinburgh Edinburgh EH2 2EL 0131 624 6200 www.nationalgalleries.org

Entry details

£5 with National Art Pass (standard entry £10)

Open daily, 10am – 5pm (Thur, 10am – 7pm)

What the critics say

ft

This show focuses on art on the cusp of the 19th and 20th centuries from an intriguing angle

  • Jackie Wullschlager
  • FT

the-times

Here it is possible to see a direct route from representative art to abstraction


the-telegraph

A fascinating show of Symbolist landscapes genuinely adds something to our knowledge of that era


the-observer

It is self-evident that these landscapes are more than descriptions; that you're not just meant to admire the view


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