Around 1860 -1914 · Identity, silence and inner life beyond resemblance

The symbolist portrait does not just recognize a face: closed gaze, mental decoration, ornamental color and attribute transform the person into an inner enigma.

At the end of the 19th century, symbolism moved the portrait beyond social resemblance. Rossetti associates Beata Beatrix with mourning, poetry and suspended temporality. Fernand Khnopff transforms the bedroom and the face into a space of withdrawal. Odilon Redon sometimes closes the model's eyes in order to open an inner vision. Böcklin brings Death into his own self-portrait, while Klimt envelops his sponsors in a decor that expresses an era as much as a personality. Böcklin brings Death into his own self-portrait, while Klimt envelops his sponsors in a decor that expresses an era as much as a personality. Böcklin brings Death into his own self-portrait, while Klimt envelops his sponsors in a decor that expresses an era as much as a personality. Böcklin brings Death into his own self-portrait, while Klimt envelops his sponsors in a decor that expresses an era as well as a personality. Böcklin brings Death into his own self-portrait, while Klimt envelops his sponsors in a decor that expresses an era as much as a personality. Böcklin brings Death into his own self-port order. Each work asks the same question in a different form: what does a face reveal when the artist refuses to explain everything? The "Symbolist Portraits" selection notably compares Beata Beatrix and I close my door on myself. His reading favors figures.

In the symbolist portrait, the face is less a response than a threshold: it gives access to memory, desire, the social role or the unknown.