Symbolism
Symbolism developed across Europe in the late nineteenth century as painters used dreams, myths, and mysterious imagery to suggest emotions and ideas.
Painting Movement
Nabis
The Nabis were a French group of painters active from 1888 to about 1900 who used flat color, simplified shapes, and decorative patterns in their art.
Nabis quick facts
The group followed Gauguin's experiments with color and turned painting toward ornament, expressive surfaces, and art for everyday interiors.
| Origin | Paris, France |
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| Approximate period | 1888–about 1900; members continued individual careers afterward |
| Classification | A Paris-based artist group that extended into decorative and applied arts, including screens, illustrated books, posters, and theater design. |
| Historical context | After meeting Gauguin at Pont-Aven, Sérusier shared his lessons with fellow artists in Paris, prompting early collaboration; Symbolism and Japanese prints also informed the group. |
| Common subjects | Domestic interiors, gardens, portraits, religious scenes, and patterned landscapes |
| Defining characteristics | Broad color areas, simplified outlines, flattened space, ornamental patterns, and subjective color |
| Paint types | Oil paint on wood or canvas; glue-based distemper paint on fabric for some decorative panels. |
| Painting surfaces | Wood panels for early oil studies, canvas for easel paintings, and fabric for decorative distemper panels. |
| Painting methods | Painters simplified contours and applied broad areas of color, adapting compositions to easel paintings, decorative panels, and prints. |
| Famous painters | Paul Sérusier, Pierre Bonnard, Édouard Vuillard, Maurice Denis, Paul Ranson, Félix Vallotton, and Ker-Xavier Roussel |
| Representative works | Paul Sérusier's The Talisman (1888), Édouard Vuillard's The Cook, and Pierre Bonnard's Under the Trees |
Sources: The Met: The Nabis and Decorative Painting, Musée d'Orsay: Nabis 1888–1900, and Musée d'Orsay: The Talisman, National Gallery of Art: Vuillard's The Cook, and Cleveland Museum of Art: Under the Trees.
Paint types in Nabis
Nabis artists used oil for intimate panels and glue-based distemper for decorative interiors, applying different paints to easel and mural-scale work.
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Oil paint
Paul Sérusier painted The Talisman (1888) in oil on a small wooden panel after working with Gauguin at Pont-Aven. Its broad, unexpected patches of color became a touchstone for the Nabis; Vuillard also used oil on canvas for The Cook (c. 1892–93).
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Distemper paint
Édouard Vuillard used glue-based distemper for Under the Trees (1894), part of the Public Gardens decorative panel series. Its matte, patterned foliage and figures were designed for a domestic interior rather than a conventional easel picture, and formed part of a larger decorative ensemble.
Sources: Musée d'Orsay: Sérusier's oil-on-wood The Talisman, National Gallery of Art: Vuillard's The Cook, and Cleveland Museum of Art: Vuillard's distemper Under the Trees.
Famous painters from Nabis
Bonnard, Denis, Sérusier, and Roussel developed decorative painting; Vuillard explored patterned interiors, while Vallotton briefly joined the circle.
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Édouard Vuillard
Vuillard's interiors compress figures, wallpaper, and furnishings into patterned surfaces, making domestic space feel almost textile-like. His Nabi work draws on flattened color and intimate observation, while his use of distemper and oil lets decoration and everyday life share the same visual plane.
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Pierre Bonnard
Bonnard's domestic interiors and gardens use saturated color and patterned surfaces to transform remembered moments into intimate compositions. His Nabi approach flattens space and lets surrounding objects compete with figures, making the arrangement of color as important as the scene itself.
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Maurice Denis
Denis's early Nabi paintings simplify figures into flat areas of color and clear outlines, treating the image as a designed surface. His later religious panels carry that decorative approach into sacred subjects, linking modern painting to mural, book, and interior design.
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Paul Sérusier
Sérusier's small panel The Talisman used simplified shapes and intense color after a lesson from Gauguin at Pont-Aven. The work became a touchstone for the Nabis, who treated color and surface as expressive choices rather than transparent copies of nature.
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Paul Ranson
Ranson's decorative paintings combine plant forms, patterned interiors, and mystical figures in a compact, ornamental style. As a Nabis painter, he used simplified outlines and strong color to merge Symbolist subjects with the group's interest in flat, integrated surfaces.
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Félix Vallotton
Vallotton's sharply outlined interiors and compressed figure groups create unease through flat areas of dark and light. His association with the Nabis is visible in the decorative surface, but his restrained palette and detached scenes give the work a distinct edge.
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Ker-Xavier Roussel
Roussel transformed gardens and classical myths into sunlit scenes of nymphs, trees, and decorative color. His Nabis paintings use simplified shapes and patterned surfaces, turning landscape into an imagined setting rather than a literal record of a particular place.
Sources: The Met: The Nabis and Decorative Painting; Musée d'Orsay: Nabis 1888–1900; Musée d'Orsay: The Talisman; National Gallery of Art: Vuillard's The Cook; Cleveland Museum of Art: Under the Trees.
Related painting movements
The Nabis drew on Symbolism and Gauguin’s color, yet formed a distinct artist group whose paintings favored decorative surfaces and intimate interiors.
Post-Impressionism
Post-Impressionism describes several distinct approaches to painting after Impressionism, from expressive color to symbolism and structured form.
Impressionism
Impressionism was a French painting movement that brought changing daylight, visible brushstrokes, and scenes of everyday life to the foreground.
Art Nouveau
Art Nouveau brought flowing botanical lines and decorative unity to fin-de-siècle art, shaping design, illustration, and painting across Europe.