The Symbols of Art

Why is there a lily in that religious picture? Why is there a bubble in that still-life? Great works of art from all periods often have details or objects that carry symbolic meanings. Sometimes those symbols would have been obvious to contemporary viewers but now need explaining to a modern audience who are less familiar with, say, Christian iconography or Classical myths.

In other cases, the symbolism is deliberately obscure, designed to add a hidden layer of meaning to the work, to make the viewer work at its true meaning. And it's not just works from earlier history where symbolism is used: trains crop up in the background of many Impressionist paintings as a way of referencing the modern world. Other artists have their own private symbols, like Josef Beuys whose regular use of felt and animal fat was a link to the experiences of his earlier life.

The Symbols of Art includes hundreds of symbols from across different periods and styles of art history. Each one is illustrated with at least one example, and a number of paintings are fully 'dissected' to show the range of different symbols in each one. Organised by type of symbol and with extensive indexing, the book is an invaluable, easy-to-use guide to help readers get the most out of works of art.