Symbolism, Esotericism, Occultism (1860 – 1918) Photography in the Art Nouveau Period

An exhibition produced in collaboration with Maison Hannon

Photography was never just about capturing reality. From alchemy to AI, it has always revealed hidden forces, merging chemistry, mystery, and imagination. The exhibition illuminates photography at the moment it positions itself as a work of art. 

To ensure a pleasant and stress-free visit, we strongly recommend booking, as it is the best way to guarantee your access to the exhibition.

Opening Hours

Day	Hours
Monday	Private visit under appointment
Tuesday	Closed
Wednesday	15:00 – 18:00
Thursday	Private visit under appointment
Friday	16:00 – 19:00
Saturday	15:00 – 18:00
Sunday	15:00 – 18:00

 

In the nineteenth century, the first photographers worked in darkrooms like modern alchemists, transforming light and silver salts into enduring images. Their chemical “transmutations” imbued photography with a magical aura, symbolically achieving the alchemist’s dream: to arrest time and preserve a fleeting instant forever. Exploring early photography therefore means understanding not only the evolution of its chemical and technical processes but also that of its visual language and its subjects.

At the turn of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, the Symbolist movement—born in literature—inspired photographers who embraced its imagination, sensitivity, and taste for allegory to invent a new artistic language. This period marked a decisive moment in the history of photography: it gradually left the realm of documentation to assert itself as a true art form. The goal was no longer to represent reality, but to create a sensory experience where the image became a medium capable of expressing emotion and the unseen. Light, blur, depth of field, contrast, and composition became instruments of a poetic and spiritual quest. Through them, Symbolist photographers sought to capture the invisible, to translate the mysteries of the world using alchemical, mythological, biblical, and esoteric imagery.

Within this visual revolution, woman emerges as a central symbol. Long an object of contemplation—at once deified, idealized, and portrayed as a figure of virtue or temptation—she embodied the archetypes of mystery and revelation. Gradually, however, a shift in gaze occurred: woman ceased to be a passive muse and became a subject in her own right, choosing how to represent herself and questioning, in turn, our perception of femininity. Finally, she asserted herself as a creator, an active participant in the production of images and in the very construction of photographic vision.

The exhibition highlights these pioneering women who transformed both the language and the gaze of photography. Julia Margaret Cameron (active 1864–1879) and Frances Benjamin Johnston (1890s–1920s) challenged conventional representations of femininity. Cameron combined pictorialist softness with Pre-Raphaelite symbolism, elevating her models to the status of sibyls and visionary saints; Johnston, a figure of the American New Woman, photographed students, athletes, and reformers, affirming their intellectual and professional autonomy. Gertrude Käsebier and Anne Brigman continued this path, infusing their practice with theosophical thought, merging spiritual pursuit with self-affirmation.

In their hands, the photosensitive surface became an experimental space, where female roles, bodies, and powers were redefined in dialogue with light and matter. From the idealized body to the conscious gaze, from model to artist, this shift profoundly influenced how both women and men approached the feminine figure in photography.

Several works in the exhibition reflect the richness of this Symbolist spirit, including rare autochromes by the Belgian pictorialist Alfonse Van Besten (1865–1926). Created shortly after the Lumière color process appeared in 1907, these transparencies—with their velvety tones, pointillist grain, and soft, diffuse light—recall stained glass and invite viewers to contemplate the threshold where matter dissolves into vision.

Organized in partnership with the Maison Hanon, the exhibition gathers works and reproductions from the collections of the Museum of Photography in Charleroi, the Museum of Walloon Life, the Mining and Sustainable Development Museum in Bois-du-Luc, the TinyGallery in Brussels, the Museum of Metallurgy and Industry in Liège, the Archives and Museum of Literature in Brussels, and the General Heritage Department of the Wallonia-Brussels Federation. All prints were produced at TinyGallery using historical processes—salted paper, gum bichromate, and Van Dyke—as respectful reinterpretations of the original works.