Term Symbolism coined 1886 by French critic Jean Moréas to describe poetry of Mallarmé and Verlaine. Soon applied to art where describes continuation, in face of Impressionism, Realism, Naturalism, of traditional mythological, religious and literary subject matter, but fuelled by new psychological content, particularly erotic and mystical. Complex international phenomenon but especially French (Moreau, Redon, Gauguin), Belgian (Khnopff, Delville), and British (Rossetti, Burne-Jones, Watts, Beardsley).