Webster's defines a symbol as "something that stands for or suggests something else by reason of relationship, association, convention, or accidental resemblance." (224)

Everything in a picture may act as a symbol: lines, shapes, colors. A specific red has been described as having the quality of a drum beat. Vincent Van Gogh said that in order to represent his friend he needed to find the most beautiful blue possible, and this he used in the background. (225)

Visual symbols are used to give greater meaning and feeling. We know that strong feelings are achieved through associations. As in Literature, a broader range of thinking is allowed, letting the viewer explore areas he might not otherwise. Symbolism allows for greater subtlety, as well.

A difficulty can occur for the viewer however, in that symbols may be general or specific. People the world over, respond similarly to certain general symbols because nature is universal (waves on the water, pebbles, wind in the trees, babies' actions toward their mothers, fruits, fear, physical pain, and happiness). A grimace is understood in any part of the world; but interestingly , a smile is not. Rounded forms convey softness and sometimes warmth, whereas spiky, sharp things have been known to hurt, and in paintings such shapes give corresponding feelings of excitement and uneasiness.

As an artist develops, he finds that certain shapes express himself better than others, or that recurrences in the use of particular shapes happens. These symbols may become very specific, and therefore, are more difficult for the viewer to understand.



"Another recurrent form in my work is the ladder. In the first years it was a plastic form frequently appearing because it was so close to me - a familiar shape on the farm. In later years, particularly during the war, while I was on Majorca, it came to symbolize `escape'." (226)
"On Symbolic Forms"
Joan Miro



"But, in the work of art, particulars and universals are simultaneously and immediately present." (227)
Rudolf Arnheim



Adding to the complexity for the viewer, an artist may create symbols specifically for each picture: "... each work is a combination of symbols invented during the execution as they are needed in a particular spot. Removed from the composition for which they were created, these symbols have no more function." (228)
Matisse



Various cultures and religions have developed their own sets of symbols. For example, "The ancient people of Crete painted an enormous eye in the middle of the narrow bands that circled their vases, on their household utensils, and on the walls of their houses. Even the fetus of a man, a fish, a chicken, a snake in its first stage is exactly an eye. One must discover the eye in everything." (229)
(Giorgio de Chirico "On the Metaphyscial" 1918)
 

"White...in the east is the "color" associated with mourning and death, and practically everywhere is the symbol of illumination." (230)
Thomas Albright



224. A Merriam-Webster, ed. H.B. Woolf, Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary (Springfield Mass., U.S.A., G & C. Merriam Co., 1976), p. 1180
225. Marc Edo Tralbaut, Vincent Van Gogh, (N.Y., Alpine Fine Arts Collection Ltd., 1981)
226. Herschel B. Chipp, Theories of Modern Art, (Berkeley and L.A., Cal., University of California Press, l968), p. 432
227. Rudolf Arnheim, Toward a Psychology of Art, (Berkeley and L.A., Cal., University of California Press, 1966),p. 220
228. Herschel B. Chipp, Theories of Modern Art, (Berkeley and L.A., Cal., University of California Press, 1968), p. 143
229. ibid., p. 447
230. Thomas Albright, On Art and Artists, (U.S.A., The Chronicle Publishing Co., 1989), p.154