The
Symbolist movement in
Romania, active during the late 19th and early 20th centuries, marked the development of
Romanian culture in both
literature and
visual arts. Bringing the assimilation of
France's
Symbolism,
Decadence and
Parnassianism, it promoted a distinctly urban culture, characterized by
cosmopolitanism,
Francophilia and endorsement of
Westernization, and was generally opposed to either rural themes or
patriotic displays in art. Like its
Western European counterparts, the movement stood for
idealism,
sentimentalism or
exoticism, alongside a noted interest in
spirituality and
esotericism, covering on its own the ground between local
Romanticism and the emerging
modernism of the
fin de siècle. Despite such unifying traits, Romanian Symbolism was an
eclectic, factionalized and often self-contradictory current.