Towards a total art. Theatrical synesthaesia and symbolist dramaturgy

The object of this article is the idea of theatrical synesthaesia, as it was developed in the short relationship between some symbolist poets and the Nabis painters in Paul Fort's Theatre d'Art from November 1890 to March 1892. The aesthetic theories developed by Maurice Denis and Emile Bernard, two of the main painters who participated in this experience, are examined in relation with the symbolist poet's theory of theatrical aesthetics, based on the idea of sensorial fusion and perceptive synthesis, therefore far more "revolutionary" and innovating than is generally acknowledged. The Théâtre d'Art had then proposed an experiment that the twentieth century will believe its own.