Salon de la Rose + Croix

[1] The avant-garde Salon artists included many of the prominent Symbolist painters, writers, and music composers of the period.

French culture experienced a revival of intellectual interest in Roman Catholic religion during the fin de siècle period.

While some intellectuals became anti-religious, others explored cultic religious practises and organized themselves into groups along the lines of Roman Catholic sects, with beliefs and practices outside the mainstream of orthodox Catholicism.

[5] Péladan wanted the Salon to create a forum for artists who rejected the officially approved academic art being exhibited by the Académie des Beaux-Arts, and the influential Impressionists.

Some major influences on Péladan were Arthurian legends, Italian Renaissance ideals and styles, the poetry of Edgar Allan Poe and Charles Baudelaire, and the music of Richard Wagner.

Although the Salon was popular with the public when it was held, the Symbolist movement failed to develop into a dominant trend in art.