Igor V. Glazov

Early Russian symbolism as, in general, the art of the last quarter of the 19th century, characterizes by the process of a kind of "modernization", during which the layers of culture of the beginning of the century, primarily romanticism, excluded from the semiotic space, are returning again to the art on new ontological grounds.

Due to the romantic heritage, the art of symbolism, as a "transitional" one, gets at its disposition symbolic tools that correspond to the mythological way of organizing socio-cultural space.

In the article, using the example of M.V. Nesterov's work, it is shown how the inner concept of symbolism expresses via romantic allegory, carried out as a conscious, intellectual activity of the artist.