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Post-fin de siècle influence
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Fin de siècle (French pronunciation: [fɛ̃ də sjɛkl]) is French for "end of the century".[2] The term sometimes encompasses both the closing and onset of an era, as it was felt to be a period of degeneration, but at the same time a period of hope for a new beginning.[3] The "spirit" of fin de siecle often refers to the boredom, cynicism, pessimism and the widespread belief that civilization leads to decadence, that were recognized as prominent in the 1880s and 1890s.[4]
“Fin de siècle” is most commonly associated with French artists, especially the French symbolists, and was affected by the cultural awareness characteristic of France at the end of the 19th century. However, the expression is also used to refer to a European-wide cultural movement.[5] The ideas and concerns of the fin de siècle influenced the decades to follow and played an important role in the birth of modernism.[6]
Fin de siecle culture has been perceived to have influenced 20th century culture. Such as Bohemian counterculture having similarities to punk counterculture that both celebrate a romantic and willful sense of decay.[7]
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The expression fin de siècle usually refers to the end of the 19th century, in Europe, France and/or Paris. It has connotations of decadence, which are seen as typical for the last years of a culturally vibrant period (La Belle Époque at the turn of the 19th century and until World War I), and of anticipative excitement about, or despair facing, impending change, or both, that is generally expected when a century or time period draws to a close. In Russia, the term Silver Age is somewhat more popular.
That the expression is in French probably comes from the fact that the fin de siècle is particularly associated with certain late 19th-century French-speaking circles in Paris and Brussels, exemplified by artists like Stéphane Mallarmé and Claude Debussy, movements like Symbolism, and in works like Oscar Wilde's Salomé (originally written in French and premiered in Paris)—which connects the idea of the fin de siècle also to the Aesthetic movement. Also, Edvard Munch spent some of his time in Paris around the turn of the 20th century, which was his most melancholy period.
In a broader sense the expression fin de siècle is used to characterise anything that has an ominous mixture of opulence and/or decadence, combined with a shared prospect of unavoidable radical change or some approaching "end."
It is not change itself that is implied in the expression fin de siècle, but its anticipation. For example, for the 19th-century fin de siècle, the most radical changes to the cultural and social order occurred more than a decade after the 20th century had started (most notably as a result of World War I). The Belle Époque was not even at its height in 1900, nor had the Edwardian era (almost seamlessly following the Victorian era) even started.