Salome: Defining and Defined by the Symbolist Era

Moscelyne ParkeHarrison

Salome, the temptress daughter of King Herod, emerges, glittering like a column of luxury, decadence and sex appeal. Salome is best known for her perverse tale of love for Saint John the Baptist, a tale frequently depicted in art of the Symbolist movement. Salome served as a subject for artists throughout the Symbolist era, her character shifting and developing with each adaption of her story. The Salome narrative was told through visual art, literature, theatre, opera, and dance, making her a key figure in the development of Symbolism as a movement. The Symbolists defined Salome through a range of works, just as Salome was a metaphor for the themes which characterize Symbolism and turn of the century Decadent art. She was painted by Gustave Moreau, described by Joris Karl Huysmans, animated by Oscar Wilde, revealed by Richard Strauss, and performed by Maud Allan.

The Symbolist era ranged from the late 1800s to early 1900s. The turn of the century movement was characterized by an obsession with dreams, the fantastical, as well as religious themes, mysticism, and ultimately decadence. A subtle, suggestive quality pervades Symbolist artwork. An escape from realism was celebrated and cultivated. Many Symbolists looked to the work of their peers for inspiration, as well as ancient mythology and biblical stories. It is from this Symbolist mentality that the character of Salome was derived and transformed into the ultimate representation of the era.

The character of Salome originated in the gospels of Mark and Matthew. However, her biblical roots hardly serve as a foundation for the elaborate symbol of female power that she would later become. Critics of the Symbolist era generally concur that the “reporting of how John the Baptist met his death is replete with decadent potentiality” (Becker-Leckrone 239). In the original biblical tale Salome is the unnamed daughter of King Herod. She has grown into a legendary figure from a nebulous heritage. She is known beyond the Symbolist era and in popular culture for her erotic “Dance of the Seven Veils.” However, “in neither of the "original" gospel texts do we have: a named dancer to a dance, a named dance, lust for John the Baptist or his head, personal motivation from Salome for the beheading, incestuous desire of Herod for Salome, Salome's death, veils of any kind, seven of anything” (Becker-Leckrone 250). Thus through the early Symbolist painter Gustave Moreau, who loved to retell biblical stories in his paintings, as well as the writings of Flaubert, Salome grew from a little known daughter to a full fledged femme fatale of the Symbolist era. As Megan Becker-Leckrone writes, the Salome story is simply “a two-thousand-year-old game of textual telephone” (251). However this game of conflation, misrepresentation, and change is one that defines the character of Salome, and ultimately the trajectory of the Symbolist era.

The painter Gustave Moreau was an early Symbolist painter who fixated onto the biblical Salome tale, and represented the illustrious woman in his paintings Apparition of 1874, and Salome dancing before Herod of 1876. In each case Moreau utilized his classical technique and stylistic subtly to imagine the form of Salome, a form which laid the foundation for the beginning of Salome as a muse of the Symbolist era. A trademark of his artistic voice was his tendency towards interpreting well known myths and iconic figures in a non realistic way. Moreau famously wrote: “Where there is no mystery and superior and divine transformation, there is no art, there is only artifice” (Cooke 219). His work is marked by a lush subtlety, and a disconcerting mixture of familiar icons reimagined in a fantastical way.

Moreau’s Salome is shown encrusted in jewels. In the 1874 version, she is frozen in shock at the sight of the apparition of the severed head of Saint John the Baptist. In his 1876 works Salome levitates on her toes, mid-dance. In each work Moreau utilizes light and dark in a way which “transform[s] both the architectural space and its inhabitants from natural to supernatural. Moreau’s technique of sharply delineating some objects while leaving others obscure or unclear in their outline adds to the mystic, indefinable quality of the scene” (Jones 347). Moreau depicts the commanding, statuesque, and glowing figure of Salome amongst a nebulous “exotic background” which mixed architecture from different cultures. He utilized architectural elements of the Great Mosque or Cordoba, French Cathedrals, Indian Temples, the Alhambra, which “emphasizes the timeless universality of his [Moreau’s] subject, which, in his eyes represented ‘the eternal woman’ ”(Cooke 222). The cultural ambiguity of Salome is a continued theme throughout the representations of her character throughout Symbolist, and one of the first pillars of her mystique. She is made all the more intriguing, and indefinable by her lack of geographic underpinnings. She belongs to a world which is at once fantasy, and at the same time rooted in clearly recognizable cultural elements from both the East and West. Salome is a daughter of the Symbolist era, rather than a single mind, story, or country. She exhibits a turn of the century mentality, one that was anticipating female emancipation, and a hunger for Orientalism. Moreau aimed to depict his Salome “as the figure of a sibyl or religious enchantress with a mysterious character, and so I conceived the costume which is like a reliquary” (Cooke 223), thus Moreau establishes Salome as a symbol, a glittering artifact of lust itself. She is at once a statue of beauty, mystery, and a perverse representation of the power of seduction. Moreau filled in the gaps of the biblical framework of Salome and provided an image of the enchantress which would be molded, personified, and defined by artists to come.

The figure of Moreau’s jeweled Salome was taken on by Joris Karl Huysmans, a writer whose book À rebours, encapsulated the Symbolist zeitgeist. The title of this book translates to “Against Nature,” thus encapsulating the Symbolist ideals of dreams over realism, suggestions over statements (Jones 352). His protagonist Des Esseintes is a man who has decided to devote himself to spending his life immersed in sensation, art, and pleasure. The themes of escapism, fantasy, and Synthetism in art are found in both À rebours, and the Symbolist movement as a whole. Thus Huysmans further developed and interpreted the Salome character by his translation of the art of Gustave Moreau into the opinions of his character Des Esseintes. As Des Esseintes gazes upon the jeweled figure of Moreau’s Salome he weaves a new thread in the Salome story via his erotic description.

“With her meditative, solemn, almost august face, she begins the lubricious dance which is to awaken the slumbering senses of the aged Herod: Her breasts undulate and, rubbed by her whirling necklaces, their nipples stand up; on her moist skin the diamonds glitter; her bracelets, her belts, her rings spit out sparks; on her triumphal robe, sewn with pearls, decorated with gold lamé. with silver in leafy patterns, her armor of gold and silver work, in which each link is a precious stone, goes into combustion, crisscrosses snakes of fire, swarms on her matt flesh, on her tea-rose skin, like splendid insects with dazzling wings, marbled with carmine, spotted with dawn yellow, mottled wit steel blue, striped with peacock green” (Cooke 215).

This description “animates” Salome intensely. Des Esseintes gives movement to every part of her being with his detailed descriptions, yet fanciful opinions. Through the course of his musings, Des Esseintes “comes to the conclusion that Salome inherits both sides of the emotional contrast between innocence and the deadly idol that by means of her actions the lusts and fears of human emotions had been awakened. Salome for him was at the same time the harlot and the innocent lover” (Kramer 194).

Gustave Moreau gave Salome a shape, and Huysmans transformed her into a literary fantasy. Both these Symbolist artists play a role in defining Salome, and in turn Salome defines the character of each artist. The richness of the description, the ornate brush strokes, the biblical yet also exotic subject matter, are all elements of both Salome, and the early artists who clarify her. In general, “The Biblical origin of Salome's story helps Moreau and Huysmans maintain a sense of the religious and transcendent element in their works even while they explore human sexuality and depravity” (Jones 351). The Synthetism of Moreau and Huysmans is found in “the texture of the description, like that of the painting, [which] is built up by accretions of layers of verbal detail as thickly encrusted as Moreau's paint. All senses are aroused: sight, smell, touch, and even hearing” (Jones 346). Thus the suggestive foundation of Salome, from her unclear biblical lineage to the enticing perversity of the killing of Saint John the Baptist, served as an exemplary platform for the birth of Symbolism to be established.

Salome found further nuance in the work of Oscar Wilde, Richard Strauss, and Maud Allan. Each artist opened a new chapter in the Salome story, and paved the way for developments in the Symbolist era. The words of Huysmans were a catalyst for the playwright Oscar Wilde to further interpret Salome. In 1891 he published his play Salome, giving the femme fatale a voice of her own. His play was accompanied by illustrations by the artist Aubrey Beardsley. The play originally premiered in London but was quickly banned. Finally Salome was performed in Paris in 1896. Oscar Wilde created a complex tale of Salome and her love for

Jokanaan, her erotic dance for her father Herod, and her eventual lust for the head of her lover. Through this winding tale of love, betrayal, and perversity “‘Wilde does seem to introduce a subjectivity and an interiority’ into the figure of Salome which is unusual” (Jones 517). Throughout the play Wilde capitalizes on the zeitgeist of the Symbolist era, “a potent mixture of decadent obsessions: murder, incest, female sexuality, and the mysterious Orient” (Hamberlin 8), and elegantly projects these qualities onto the character of Salome. It was Oscar Wilde who created the “Dance of the Seven Veils”, the notorious striptease that Salome performs in order to please her father. He also inserts the scene of Salome kissing the head of her decapitated beloved. However, much like Salome’s biblical roots, the description of the dance is “indicated only by the cryptic stage direction: ‘Salome dances the dance of the seven veils’(from Salome)” (Jones 341). The ambiguity of the dance serves as a platform for imagination, and ultimately inspiration.

In the following passage Herod has finished begging his daughter to dance for him, and is now pleased by the mysterious events that have unfolded. He asks what Salome desires in return for her service.

HEROD

Ah! wonderful! wonderful! You see that she has danced for me, your daughter. Come near, Salomé, come near, that I may give you your reward. Ah! I pay the dancers well. I will pay thee royally. I will give thee whatsoever thy soul desireth. What wouldst thou have? Speak.

SALOMÉ [Kneeling].

I would that they presently bring me in a silver charger....

HEROD [Laughing.]

In a silver charger? Surely yes, in a silver charger. She is charming, is she not? What is it you would have in a silver charger, O sweet and fair Salomé, you who are fairer than all the daughters of Judæa? What would you have them bring thee in a silver charger? Tell me. Whatsoever it may be, they shall give it you. My treasures belong to thee. What is it,

Salomé?

SALOMÉ [Rising].

The head of Jokanaan. (Wilde n.p.)

This last command is repeated in various ways six times by Salome. She demands the head of her lover, until her father succumbs to the power of his oath. After the fatal execution she kisses the mouth of her beloved and says: “I have kissed thy mouth. There was a bitter taste on thy lips. Was it the taste of blood?... But perchance it is the taste of love.... They say that love hath a bitter taste.... But what of that? what of that?” (Wilde n.p.). Her words are hypnotic, repetitive, and melancholy. Thus Oscar Wilde capitalized on the lustful, dark, and fetish side of Salome by inserting the “Dance of the Seven Veils,” and a scene of Salome kissing the beheaded Jokanaan. The systematic unveiling of the seven veils of Salome is a form of emancipation for Salome and her trajectory in Symbolism. Indeed Salome’s journey from “the passive child Salome of the Bible had been converted by her nineteenth-century fathers into a classic femme fatale of knowing evil and vicious intent. In a key shift of emphasis from both these previous onedimensional incarnations, Oscar Wilde gave Salome what she had heretofore lacked: a personality, a psychology all by her own” (Kultermann 195). Salome’s figure had been established by Moreau, her influence by Huysmans, now finally Wilde had given her a voice and a complexity. The layers of Salome continued to develop, and her character grew larger and more fleshed out with the interpretation of Richard Strauss.

The Symbolist notion of Gesamtkunstwerk, a sharing and coming together of art forms into a complete work, is found in Richard Strauss’ opera Salome of 1906. Strauss saw a production of Wilde’s play in 1903 and was consequently influenced to create a libretto based on the femme fatal. Strauss’ one act opera expounded upon the exoticism of the Salome figure, and highlighted her provocative nature. The intrigue which Strauss creates eventually catapulted Salome out of the realm of Symbolism into popular culture. Strauss’s opera is fairly short, yet it is centered on the “Dance of the Seven Veils,” in which the lead soprano slowly strips off her garments while singing and dancing for Herod. In Strauss’s directions for the performer he apparently directs “that Salome take off the first veil and adopt the pose shown in Moreau’s picture of Salome” (Caddy 56.) The “Dance of the Seven Veils” was extremely scandalous for the time, and in many cases the soprano refused to do the dance, and was instead replaced by a hired dancer. In many places the dance was forced to be cut from the program, yet because of its forbidden nature the “Dance of the Seven Veils” only became more popular and came to influence less gentrified areas of the entertainment industry. The coming together of dance, music, acting, and stage production catapulted Salome into the public eye as a figure of power, intrigue, and ultimately decadence.

The “Dance of the Seven Veils” was eventually formed into a one woman show by the famous Canadian dancer Maud Allan in 1908. Allan’s dance has been widely recognized as the beginning of a craze across the Western world dubbed “Salomania.” Her dance, Vision of Salomé, was a fantastical representation of Salome and an expansion of Strauss’ Dance of the Seven Veils. Allan did not sing, however she danced to Strauss’ music, her body encrusted in beads and jewels reminiscent of Gustave Moreau’s Apparition. The dance became popular for a number of reasons beyond Allan’s apparent beauty and presence, for her performance was a “ combination of dance and death, seduction and liberation” (Kultermann 187). Thus Allan conveyed the paradoxes of the Salome figure. She was a symbol of emancipation and at the same time dependent on the word of her father. She is at once an innocent daughter, and a blood thirsty lover. Somehow through these paradoxes, Allan also managed to create a fantasy that was a strip tease, yet also widely celebrated amongst upper-class audiences. Allan was “A Western woman’s representation of that fantasy of the Eastern woman” (Koritz 63). She was both familiar and at the same time a representation of the unknown which audiences craved. Allan describes her feelings on Vision of Salomé in her autobiography. Allan “treats the character as a naturally spiritual and innocent child. The story of Salome and John the Baptist she [Allan] claims to depict in her dance is one of spiritual awakening. Salome is transformed in the dance from an obedient child accustomed to Oriental luxury into a woman anxious to submit to the superior power represented by the Baptist” (Koritz 67). Allan’s interpretation of Salome through movement mirrored similar developments in expressive dance throughout the Western world. The transformative power of dance, and the ability to communicate complexities through movement, was the means by which Salome became a fully formed Symbolist idea. Moreau, Huysmans, Wide, and Strauss, were all present in every movement that Allan made, and the character which she created for her audience.

From paint to pure flesh, Salome is a manifestation of the development of Symbolist ideas. Her trajectory exemplifies the conversation between artists of this movement, as well as turn of the century societal tastes. The lineage of Salome is thus clear, for her diffusion into visual art, literature, theatre, and opera makes her character the ultimate Gesamtkunstwerk of the Symbolist era. She is a personification of Symbolist themes, and at the same time the muse for seminal artists of various mediums. Salome’s image is thus branded into Western culture as a woman of power and mystery, a symbol of Symbolism itself.

Works Cited

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Kramer, Lawrence. “Culture and Musical Hermeneutics: The Salome Complex.” Cambridge Opera Journal, vol. 2, no. 3, 1990, pp. 269–294., www.jstor.org/stable/823687.

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