Leonard Lester
Interest in religious mysticism in the nineteenth century more-or-less paralleled the so-called Romantic Movement in art. There was a shift in consciousness that caused artists and writers to distrust the growing materialism of their times, to strike out against the Age of Reason, and to question the ability of reason to govern all things. Artists turned toward their inner experience and tried to create an art that could embody their dreams and emotions in pictorial forms. Visionary artists such as William Blake and certain of the Pre-Raphaelites and their followers, particularly Edward Burne-Jones, paved the way for the Symbolist Art Movement that flourished at the end of the century. Symbolist art, by using rhythms, colors, and symbols, created visual images that conveyed ideas, emotions and moods far above the obvious level of what was actually being depicted. It was an art that appealed to those who wished to remove themselves from the materialism and boredom of everyday life, and seek a higher level of consciousness.