Constructive realism in the construction of artistic images of fine art in the context of the creation of symbolic meanings

Kalina Natalia Dmitrievna ORCID: 0000-0002-3589-5145 Doctor of Cultural Studies Professor, the department of Design and Technologies, Far Eastern State University of Economics and Service 690014, Russia, Primorskii krai, g. Vladivostok, ul. Gogolya, 33, kv. 51 nata.kalina.53@mail.ru Other publications by this author

1. IntroductionThe forms of artistic images constructed with the active reflexive and creative position of the artist demonstrate symbolic content - the creation of images of fine art related to observable and imaginary forms.

The images of diverse reality created in the synthesis of the artist's individual experience with the knowledge accumulated in culture represent generalized forms visually perceived by speculation. The construction of hidden symbolic meanings through real forms is the opposite of the creation of works in imitation of nature, which is the actual goal of true art. Accordingly, the interdisciplinary synthesis of semiotics, visual communication and art criticism, presented in the new methodological development of constructive realism, becomes relevant to the XXI century. O.S. Davydova, analyzing the creation of meanings in symbolic images, comes to the conclusion that this problem remains relevant to this day. The artistic content is not limited to visible subject meanings and logically conscious plots. The expression of the content is the fruit of individual emotional synthesis, the volitional effort of the artist, transforming visibility ^{[1, p.11]}.The direction of symbolism in the visual arts was established at the end of the XIX century, as an alternative to realism and impressionism.

The content of the works of generally accepted realism is based on the themes of everyday life and the forms of real reality. Unlike realism, which conveys typical images, the main content of Impressionist paintings are not life stories, but the transfer of the unity of a person with the environment due to natural illumination, dissolving the clear outlines of figures. Symbolic realism differs from the usual forms of realism and Impressionism in its duality. On the one hand, the paintings create a picturesque fabric of real images, on the other hand, this fabric expresses other deeper meanings, visually constructed in the unity of reason and feeling.In the symbolic aspect, the images of fine art are created by speculation inherent in visual thinking.

In this connection, V.I. Zhukovsky believes that visual thinking is an integral part of "synthetic thinking", it exists in connection with the rest of the sensory modalities of a person, transformed in the process of the relationship of feeling and reason. Visual thinking is capable of reflecting any categorical relations of reality. According to the scientist, the subject of visual thinking is a hidden, not revealed essence, and the purpose of visual-mental work is to create works (paintings, graphic works, sculptures, etc.) that cannot exist without the artist's intention ^{[2, p. 70]}. The results of the visual thinking of the artist are discursive arguments about the creative transformation of the forms of real reality to the aesthetic ideal of an artistic image that demonstrates certain meanings of a certain cultural field.

According to V.A. Lektorsky, epistemological realism and constructivism (a kind of antirealism) exclude each other. According to realism, cognizable objects exist independently of cognition. In constructivism, a person creates a new reality. The constructions of objects created by the subject exist within either an individual consciousness or an intersubjective sign (language) system. According to the scientist, modern epistemological realism can successfully take into account these facts, giving them its own interpretation. In this case, realism takes on a new form, since it understands both the reality of objects and the construction in a new way. The lecturer called such realism constructive (activity) realism ^{[3, pp. 18-19]}. The use of constructive realism in the visual arts becomes a way of creating aesthetically expressive forms that represent the content of real reality in symbolic terms. Constructivism is manifested here in the composition of parts that define integrity, as well as in the creation of stylistic qualities of the form expressing symbolic meanings.

The constructivist approach to visual art as a category of visual culture combines the real and the conditional in the aspect of constructive realism, this ensures the transformation of objects existing in nature and culture, and not just the image of observed facts. The real refers to the knowledge of the essential and significant in the prototype of reality, and the conditional – the use of constructive ideas, knowledge of visual means and artistic and aesthetic principles of building a harmonious organization of the stylistic unity of the form. This process contributes to the analysis and synthesis of certain features of the form and content of the artistic image.

Constructive realism combines abstract and concrete properties of the form of images through visibility, and the level of abstraction from reality can have different degrees of expression. As a result of the use of conventions in the construction of the image, new generalized properties appear that did not exist in the real prototype. These properties of the form of images convey the content of symbolic meanings.

Symbolism (from the Greek symbolo – to connect, to bind). The concept of "symbol" is used to denote a semantic image or a semantic sign. In the visual culture of fine art, symbols are images of the real world, constructed by the mind in the synthesis of two forms of general cultural and individual. The cognition of symbols is also carried out in a two-way orientation of ideal and real. In the visual arts, symbols represent conceptual means of constructing symbolic meanings of artistic images as phenomena of visual culture. In terms of visual communication, two types of symbols are used as visual carriers of information and meanings. The first type of symbols has a discrete nature, which is considered in connection with the visual sign-symbolic language of image construction. As a rule, real-life objects and objective models of spatial structures can be constructed with the help of sign-symbolic means of language. The second type of symbols represents artistic images constructed on the subjective basis of the choice of hidden meanings, combining realistic persuasiveness in the form of an image with an ideological plan in the expression of a different meaning. Two types of symbols in the construction of integral images depend on the values. Symbolic meanings are specific, being presented in the form of an image, they belong to the field of cultural meanings. According to V.V. Ilyin, forms with symbolic meanings are not reproduced, but arise as an intentional semantic-figurative construction of reality ^{[4, p. 91]}. Symbolic meanings express the meaningful depth of art.

A. Bely refers any ways of creating ideological images of art to symbolism if they lead to the unity of the diverse. In this connection, the scientist identified several ways of symbolic realism. Let's consider some of them: in creating an artistic image, attention is focused on a certain experience that transforms the features of externally perceived forms; in the image of the image, the artist's reality is manifested, based on the reasonable creation of symbolic forms representing the content; the unity of the image and experience is created in the image-model; there is no idea of unity, the artist tries to express contradictory experiences in the image-models, finds correspondences in shapes, lines, colors ^{[5, pp. 116-118]}. The methods of symbolism highlighted by A. Bely can be attributed to constructive realism, due to the fact that the symbol of an artistic image is achieved in the ideological construction of the structure of a form representing unity with a different content.

I.I. Orlov notes that in the center of any symbolism there is always some hidden core of the deepest meaning, which is "shrouded" in a dynamic zone of formation and development of the figurative and semantic components of the main symbol. The symbol interacts with the world of subjects of the space-time continuum through the content of objects, which brings "some" knowledge to people ^{[6, p. 220]}. Artistic images constructed conceptually express on a semantic basis a certain supersubject content that has an ideologically abstract meaning from the perception of reality. There are no unnecessary details in the works. Using artistic generalizations, images acquire monumentality. Meanwhile, every detail of the artistic image becomes the bearer of the main symbolic meaning of philosophical, poetic, solemn, dramatic or heroic content.

The symbolism of artists' paintings has specific forms that are subject to special analysis. In this article, it is planned to explore the following symbolic images of fine art: the origin and existence of symbolism at the end of the nineteenth century; symbolic art of Russian artists of the early twentieth century in connection with the Art Nouveau style; to trace the change in the theme of symbolism from the 50s to the end of the twentieth century. As a result of the study of various trends of symbolism, to create a new author's model of constructive realism in accordance with the visual communication of the XXI century and to test it in art education.

2. Ways of constructing the unity of the manifold in the forms of artistic images representing symbolic meanings Practice shows that the symbolic meanings of artistic images are created mainly in two ways: metaphysical and constructive realism.

The result of both methods in the construction of artistic images is the unity of the diverse.

The metaphysical method defines the first stage of cognition and images of images, their forms are taken from the material world as they are. In combining and synthesizing really existing forms, the metaphysical method is based on sensory intuition, which represents a holistic unity as perceived reliability of "everything at once". The images are created on the individual basis of the artist's experience, including specific knowledge and attitude to them. In the search for unity of forms, the metaphysical way of creating images aims at a certain kind of coordination without focusing on interrelationships. The process of generating symbolic meaning on a metaphysical basis becomes closed.

The second stage of cognition is formed by the creative principles of the method of constructive realism. In the construction of images of fine art, constructive realism is based on abstraction from the concrete and the use of theoretically-based generalizations that contribute to the differentiation and division of integrity into elements and the analysis of relationships. Basically, this method is discrete and reflexive. With constructive realism, certain means of image are differentiated and integrated in the creation of paintings. Both individual and socio-cultural experience are included in the construction of images, and therefore this method becomes open. The artist focuses on the structural ordering of the form, which allows to convey the content of images.

Artistry opposes natural forms with a special artificially created expressiveness of the second nature, which differs from real objects by its subordination to the constructive organization of the form and the high art of the image. Composition is the main constructive principle of the harmonization of the figurative structure of the picture, the structural organization of the image, resulting from the characteristics of the form and content of the work.

The construction of the structure and composition has common properties expressed in the search for expressive qualities of the image and its parts. In the design and composition, none of the elements can be excluded without prejudice to the whole. All the necessary elements of composition and construction are arranged in a certain order and interrelationships. Both processes focus on identifying semantic meanings hidden from the direct view, allowing to determine the relationship between the individual parts of the whole and to identify proportional consistency in the uniform structure of the form.

The ideological and meaningful transformation of real objects follows the traditions and innovative findings of a particular cultural and historical period. New ideas express in artistic images generally significant symbolic meanings peculiar to the epoch. However, the creation of works of fine art for a long time was carried out only on the metaphysical basis of artists. Currently, many artists also continue to use only a metaphysical way of thinking in the construction of art images. But when creating symbolic images of fine art, the use of one metaphysical thinking of the artist is not enough. Constructive realism includes three main components in the construction of artistic images: knowledge of the visual language of expression through the form of content in the unity of the real and conditional, allowing the artist to be free from material naturalism; value-semantic worldview of the author; focus on the construction of semantic images-models of the content of culture.

1. Symbolic images of fine art.

In the cultural and historical periods of the XVIII and early XIX centuries, the image of the object and its materiality was in balance. The images were executed in a metaphysical way. The objects and characters of the paintings demonstrated their self-worth. In the second half of the nineteenth century, ideas of transforming the real world appeared in the creation of works of fine art. In connection with the use of ideas, the objects and characters of the paintings became the exponents of certain meanings.

The following symbolist artists worked in the fine arts of the late nineteenth century: Gustave Moreau, Giovani Segantini, Pierre Cecile Puvy de Chavannes, Arnold Becklin, George Frederick Watts, Alfred Cuban, Fernand Knopf, Vincent van Gogh, Paul Gauguin, Edvard Munch. Many of these artists drew inspiration from images and themes of suffering, death, vice, sin, love and hope. At this time, mythological and religious symbolic meanings, detached from life, mainly prevailed. The content of meanings was created in images on an irrational metaphysical basis, using individual constructive moments. Myths intertwined objective and fictional content in the paintings, created with the help of the artist's imagination, thereby they revealed symbolism in the visual arts. In creating symbolic images, the artists did not completely imitate nature, but sought agreement in the unity of the diverse, revealing complementary meanings as part of the whole.

Visual images became artistic images when a speculative idea expressing a hidden symbolic meaning was achieved in the images of something. Thus, when understanding the images of the religious plan, a person approached God as the primary source of life. Consider the religious symbol of the image of the universe. The vertical ray generated by God represents the primordial light, which has neither beginning nor end – this light becomes a symbol of creation. The symbol of the creation of the worlds created by God is a horizontal line. In people's lives, the vertical symbolizes masculine strength, and the horizontal – feminine, associated with motherhood. In the divine plan, when two lines cross – the vertical one uniting the upper and lower worlds and the horizontal one, which represents the earth's surface and the water surface, a cross appears in front of us – this is a representation of the Earth with four cardinal directions and four elements ^{[7, pp. 24-25]}. The symbol of the light ray is expressed in fine art in a vertically standing line that generates life on Earth, it is symbolized by a horizontal blue line.

Iconography does not copy reality. In the creation of icons, artists consciously allow conventions, transforming the faces of saints with divine light. In general, the spatial constructions of icons do not obey the mandatory rules for everyone. An icon is a socratic text, but in order to get closer to understanding it, it is necessary to know the plot and its designations. It is important to feel the correlation of all the main parts of the artistic integrity of the icon: signs, lines, color and light. The color in the icon carries not only an aesthetic, but also a symbolic load. The golden light in the icon is a symbol of divine light ^[8]. All this shows that the beauty of the icon is inextricably linked with the meaning.

The specificity of icon painting is that the primordial images, on the basis of which icons are built, appear similar to the real world, and their purpose relates to the search for hidden supersensible sublime meaning – two different plans in the creation of symbolic images. In the depiction of the ideal image of Jesus Christ, having two natures of the God-Man, duality was also manifested, sometimes causing contradictions in the creation of icons. Different icons represent the forms of symbolic images of Christ as seen in life, and the outlines of the unseen, disembodied and conventionally depicted ^{[9, pp. 168-169]}. The images of icons have two planes – "real" and "fictional". In this connection, the icons convey at the heart of the idea an ideal ideological-abstract religious meaning from real objects and people, expressing the idea of saving the world from sins.

The images of the symbols of the snake, spiral, cross, circle have a cosmic nature. In the visual arts, the Sun and Moon also became one of the most important cosmological symbols, revealing themselves in the form of a deity. In their combination, the Sun and the Moon mean unity and the cycle of time and in this context correlate with day and night. Together they symbolize eternity, representing an integral time cycle. In the visual arts, the symbolism of the Sun is associated with the image of horses. Glowing horses harnessed to a chariot symbolize the movement of the Sun across the firmament ^{[10, p. 13]}. The moon, associated with the phases and cycles of movement in the sky, has become a symbol of the measurement of time for most peoples. In this connection, a lunar calendar is being created in the East, representing pictorial symbols of certain time periods. In relation to the Sun, the Moon symbolizes another inverted world ^{[11, p. 57]}. Symbolic meanings associated with the Sun and the Moon are expressed in decorative and conventional styles of creating a form. For example, the Moon is painted with gold paint on one side, symbolizing the day, and on the other – dark, representing the symbol of the night.

At the end of the nineteenth century. symbolism as a direction of fine art is manifested not only in icons and cosmological symbols, but also in painting. Let's consider some examples of the application of the principle of the relationship between the real and the conditional. Artists-painters, applying this principle, created figurative forms in paintings in unity with the content of symbolic meanings.

The outstanding artist Vincent Van Gogh (1853-1890) was of Dutch origin, but his best works were painted in France. Van Gogh painted from life, experimented with composition and color. Nature was for Van Gogh only the material of the transformation of the world. The artist transformed real images in the synthesis of metaphysics with constructive realism, but without taking into account the knowledge of geometric and perspective relationships. In creating paintings with aesthetic expressiveness and emotional power, the artist radically retreated from reality, used the constructive principle of connecting the real with a complex of conditional signs in the expression of form and content. In addition, in creating the stylistic integrity of paintings, Van Gogh synthesized various methods of fine art: idealistic in the expression of ideas; synthetic in the creation of an integral form; style-forming when using his own complex of artistic means; ordering the form of composition and color of the painting; improvised in the free execution of painting; expressive in the expressive use of pointillism in the form of oblong strokes, rhythmically, superimposed on the shape of the image; decorative in the conditional creation of the form; accentuating, in highlighting the main elements of the picture. In the synthesis of all these methods of fine art, Van Gogh developed his own individual style of creating symbolic meanings in artistic images. At the same time, he used an individual set of tools in each of the parts of the picture in different ways. The painting "Sunflowers", painted in a yellow-ochre color, expresses the symbol of the sun in the rhythmic form of connections. Katrina "Red Vineyard", showing the motif of the grape harvest, symbolizes autumn. The painting "Starry Night" is characterized by a conventionally decorative way of expression, symbolizing the dynamic life of the night sky. As a result of the formation of an individual style in painting, Van Gogh's paintings have a profound effect on the audience.

Together with Van Gogh, the French artist Paul Gauguin (1848-1903) stood at the origins of symbolic art. The work of both artists includes conventions and decorativeness. In this connection, in the second half of the nineteenth century, these artists had a significant impact on overcoming imitation of nature in the visual arts. Gauguin's paintings show that the artist did not paint his images directly from nature. The images in the paintings are written without unnecessary details in detachment from naturalism. The real reality looks generalized and flattened in Gauguin's paintings, created on the basis of pure color spots and their contours, which do not exist in nature. At the same time, the Artist depicts the symbolic content of the paintings. Rhythmic compositions of artistic images created by Gauguin and the color of paintings without sharp color contrasts look whole and harmonious. In this connection, it can be assumed that the artist created images based on the synthesis of accumulated ideas and imagination. Paul Gauguin is considered a symbolist in the history of art. The artist's best paintings include "A Woman holding a fetus" – a symbol of the unity of human life and nature. The fruit, located in the center of the picture, symbolizes the fertility of a woman. The painting "A Woman with Flowers in her hands" combines Christian motifs with mythological ones. In the painting, the artist compares the two main characters at the source – Mary with a halo on her head and Eve with an apple in her hand, while the Lily is depicted as a symbol of the purity of the Virgin Mary, and the source as salvation in spiritual life.

The painting by Edvard Munch (1863 – 1944) "The Yellow Log" is painted in a lively expressive manner, which creates a symbolic meaning of the life of growing trees. These trees are painted in the painting in purple of different shades, and the bark–stripped log lying in the center of the picture is bright yellow. The symbolic meaning in all this is to contrast the temporary life of trees and the death of a tree. The yellow-colored log is depicted in perspective as incredibly long, symbolizing, unlike the life of trees, the infinite existence of the spirit after death ^{[12, p.60]}. The symbolic meaning of the painting is based on the principle of the contrast of colors purple with yellow, as well as the spatial orientation of trees standing and lying. Munch's painting "The Sun" demonstrates symmetrically structured rays of different shades of warm color. The rays emanate from the bright golden center and spread throughout the entire space of the painting. The sea, rocks and a narrow strip of grassy beach are under the power of the light pouring on them. A smooth horizon line separates the sky filled with the divine light of the cosmos from the corruptible earth. Everything that exists on Earth depends on the sun. The sunlight illuminating the earth symbolizes a change in the color of life [Ibid., p. 63]. The image of the sun in the picture, as the primary source of light, is carried out using the principles of the compositional center and the hierarchy of distribution of expressive means. In the painting, the artist draws attention to the idea of illumination of objects with superreal light, and the brighter glow of the image is expressed in the compositional center – illumination significantly exceeding the illumination of all other parts of the picture. The distribution of light in the hierarchy is a constructive idea of visual unification, it gives an artistic image a special expressiveness.

So, the cultural and historical period of the development of fine art at the end of the nineteenth century became the bearer of symbolic representations of reality and the type of artistic images.

The next stage of the research was the cultural period of the development of Russian symbolism in the first third of the twentieth century – the art of the Silver Age of Russia. Art included a philosophical understanding of reality, as well as the use of an original artistic method in creating symbolic art, liberating creative personalities in combining the real and the conditional. At that time, the symbolic meanings of fine art were expressed in many meaningful aspects. Famous artists M.A. Vrubel, V.A. Serov, K.S. Pertov-Vodkin, B.M. Kustodiev, N.K. Roerich, K.A. Somov, V.E. Borisov-Musatov and other talented personalities created artistic images thanks to the harmonization of tradition and innovation.

The symbolist artist of the Russian Art Nouveau Mikhail Vrubel (1856-1910) has been striving for perfection all his creative life. Vrubel's artistic and aesthetic views developed under the influence of M.Y. Lermontov's poems. The demon is the image of the entire poetic and philosophical world of Lermontov. M. Vrubel wanted to correctly understand the demon in Lermontov's art, but expressed it in fine art in his own way. Symbolically, Vrubel's demon possessed spiritual power imbued with a struggle with emotions, aspirations to learn deep truths and believe in a brighter future. All this raised the demon symbol above materiality. Vrubel believed that an artist should not be a slave to nature, but should be a creator inspired by the ideas of transforming the world. Mikhail Vrubel was inspired by music in painting. Working in the theater on sets and costumes, the artist developed the ideals of conventional interpretations of theatrical art and transferred them into the creation of paintings.

Vrubel's painting "The Demon (sitting)" reveals the image of a thoughtful young man looking into the distance. The young man's face and athletic arms are tense. Lyrical in a youthful way, full of blossoming vitality, the Demon is immersed in the anguish of experiences. The background in the picture is a dark purple sky, but in the distance, clearing the darkness, the sky brightens the glow. Flowers of unprecedented beauty, painted in a conventionally decorative style, grow behind the demon's back and near his feet. The whole composition is filled with deep sadness ^{[13, p. 10-11]}. Vrubel's images are characterized by mystery and mysticism. In the later painting "The Defeated Demon", the image of the hero was even more disappointed, expressing the tragedy of the world, but at the same time sublime. In the painting, the demon is depicted sprawled on the ground, his arms are twisted and his wings are broken, but his head with glowing eyes is raised. The image of huge eyes served as a means of expressing the spiritual power of the hero – one of the techniques of Vrubel's artistic and figurative system. Creating images of a demon, Vrubel got used to the image and transmitted his experiences and spiritual mood through it, thereby expressing his spirituality.

The non-real mystical images that characterize poetry in the representation of wildlife have become the peaks of the fabulous cycle of Vrubel's works, written in a conventionally decorative manner. In the painting "Pan", the artist depicts an old man looking at the audience with sad blue eyes. The moonlight makes the image fantastic. Goat hair covers the lower part of his being. This image depicts the wisdom of all nature and mystical depth. Pan holds a flute as a symbol of the music that permeates the entire composition of the painting. Another painting "The Swan Queen" represents a royal bird in the fabulous image of a girl, calm and deep in herself. Vrubel creates the ideal of female beauty in the image of a swan, synthesizing the real and the fantastic. The beautiful face of the queen with large dark eyes is decorated with a cocoon of their silver, emeralds and pearls, and the white-pink and bluish-lilac outfit is decorated with silver lace.

Creating tragic or lyrical subjects of paintings, Vrubel strove for innovation and for certain artistic interpretations of images of real reality. In painting paintings for Vrubel, it was important to convey the content. The images created by the artist were executed in a metaphysical way in interaction with constructive realism in creating compositions and individual synthesis in the representation of the real and conditional. In this connection, the images have always been filled with symbolic meaning, representing modernism of new forms and content.

The art of V. A. Serov (1865-1911) is filled with human content. At the beginning of his career, the artist showed a poetic attitude and intellectual reflections in the creation of portraits-paintings. In the painting "Girl with peaches" the artist creates a radiant image of youth. The painting is woven from a light-air medium. Light pours from the window, filling every detail of the room and the girl's figure with reflexes. The dynamism of the composition depends on two diagonally directed perspective lines, one of them designates the edge of the table, and the other the frame line on the window. In the picture everything is balanced, the girl is depicted between these two lines, but looks in the opposite direction from the direction of the lines. The center of the picture is focused on the girl's face, on the lively look of her brown eyes. Another famous painting, "The Girl Sanctified by the sun" expresses the relationship of the sunny nature with the lyrical mood of a sad and thoughtful girl. A little later, the artist paints a portrait of M.Ya. Lvova, also consecrated by the sun. The influence of impressionism is felt in these paintings. But Serov solved other tasks in creating images – the construction of spatially organized compositions.

At the end of the nineteenth century, Serov's portraits combine the similarity of the person being portrayed with the transfer of the inner world of a person associated with a variety of moods and feelings, experiences expressing personality. The artist grasped the image of the person being portrayed in his manner of standing, sitting, as well as the manner of looking and thinking. Serov synthesized all these observations of models in writing psychological portraits expressing certain characters – portraits of musicologist B.V. Asafyev, Italian singers A. Mazini and F. Tamanjo, artists K. Korovin, I. Repin, I. Levitan, writer N. Leskov, artist F. Chaliapin, composer P. Blaramberg. In 1900, Serov created portraits of Alexander III and Nicholas II. Critics of fine art of the early twentieth century and modernity recognize that the portrait of Nicholas II is the best portrait of the Russian tsar of all created. Before painting portraits, Serov made compositional sketches. In the sketches, the artist used a variety of silhouettes and poses. Researchers M.S. Savinykh and G.A. Sofronov reveal the peculiarities of creating a psychological portrait: "The portrait reflects the historical time, the class to which people belong, what they dress in, what characters they possessed. The psychological state of a person is shown by facial expressions and his gaze." The perspective and point of view of the model help in the transfer of personality status ^{[14, pp. 133-134]}.

Serov also creates psychological images in female portraits. At the same time, the artist enriches female portraits with an emotional atmosphere created by means of composition – portraits of S. Witte, K. Obninskaya, M. Botkina, Z. Yusupova, E. Loseva and others. In the portrait of E. Karzinkina, the artist for the first time began to use a conventionally decorative style. The compositions of portraits of the famous actress M. Ermolova and the refined silhouette of Princess O. Orlova are organized by generalized silhouettes with elements of decorative stylistics. The portrait of I. Rubinstein was created in the conventionally decorative manner of the Art Nouveau style - the stylistics of the figure of the image is connected with the character of the dancer's appearance, expressing the plasticity of the body as the symbolic meaning of the portrait. With all the differences in the portraits, the artist sought to see the commonality associated with the creation of an expressive composition and style of painting. In the analysis and expression of psychological truth, the artist was objective, at the same time showed a synthesis of a holistic image with a harmonious combination of details.

At the beginning of the twentieth century, V. Serov built beautiful paintings in the Art Nouveau style and new conventional forms of expression of content. The artistic search for clarity in the creation of symbolic meaning is connected with the solution of stylistic problems and the harmonization of the composition of images. Paintings "The Abduction of Europe", "Odisha and Navzikaya", "Soldiers, brave children, where is your glory?" they are created in a generalized decorative and stylistic manner. The new style of the artist's works based on wide planes and correct perspective amazes the viewer with its expressiveness.

The artist was attracted by the image of Peter I, on which he worked until the end of his life. The paintings "Peter I on a dog hunt", "Peter I" are organized by clear silhouettes of generalized images. The symbolic meaning of the painting Peter I consists in the rapid march of the tsar forward to the transformations of Russia, those whom the tsar dragged behind him hobble after the tsar. When creating portraits and paintings, the artist was in search of a strong and, at the same time, lively painting, clarity and laconism in expressing the forms and content of artistic images.

Another prominent representative of the spiritual and symbolic quest of the artistic intelligentsia of the early twentieth century was the Russian artist K.S. Petrov Vodkin (1878-1939). The artist has developed a new style and a new concept of using generalized and conditional means of constructing a form in speculative artistic images, representing an original in composition and deep in content understanding of his time. The constructive composition of the painting "Bathing of the Red Horse" impresses with the aesthetic expressiveness of the image. The fiery red horse carrying the flexible body of the rider symbolizes the young forces of the country of the revolutionary era and its future. The symbolic meaning of the artistic image turns out to be distracted from the real perception of reality.

The symbolic ideas of the First Russian Revolution are considered in the paintings of B.M. Kustodiev (1878-1927) in a completely different way than in the paintings of Petrov-Vodkin. The artist, following the principle of different scale figures, creates in 1905 an image of death and ruin, which entered the city in the form of a huge skeleton. A year later, B. Kustodiev creates a picture "Rally at the Putilov factory". In the picture, a giant figure of the speaker stands above the crowd of protesters. In 1919 – 1920, Kustodiev painted the picture "Bolshevik". In the painting, a giant figure of the ruler of a new way of life walks with a red banner through a crowd of midgets ^{[15, p. 35]}. The application of the principle of different scales of figures refers to the rational process and intelligible perception of images. The superreal becomes symbolic meaning in paintings, while the forms of real objects are endowed with unusual qualities that express allegory – additional content of meanings of symbolic meaning.

In addition to paintings on revolutionary themes, M. Kustodiev created paintings on the theme of holidays in the fabulous manner of theater and carnival, thereby continuing the tradition of folk art. One of the paintings of the festive festivities of Maslenitsa depicts the inscription "Theater" – the code of the picture. The theater is depicted in the picture in a variety of plans with differences in scale and height. In the painting "Winter", the plot of the composition rushes up the spiral road of tobogganing. Fairy-tale trees covered with frost are visible among the lush blue snowdrifts. Festive booths are depicted on the top of the hill. The energy of the winter carnival square is enhanced by the mass of people ^{[16, pp. 41-42]}. Kustodiev's group compositions simultaneously include two plans, real and fictional – original images of paintings made in the conventionally decorative Art Nouveau style.

N.K. Roerich (1874-1947) holds a special place in Russian fine art in his philosophical and aesthetic views. The highly poetic structure of Roerich's paintings follows from the interpretation of historical themes and stylized manner of writing. Roerich was far from the revolutionary movement, but he subtly understood the mood of the era. In 1901, when the revolutionary movements in the country began, the artist painted the painting "On the Mound". The painting expressed the symbol of the era and anxiety for the country. Roerich worked on paintings from nature, but at the same time he went into the ideal world of freedom, used elements of fiction and conventions, and also showed the gift of generalization in artistic images. The ideas of Roerich's paintings acquired an emotional sound of the mysterious symbolic and philosophical meaning of eternal life.

Roerich creates generalized collective images and integral colors of paintings in their picturesque mood, made in rationally constructed compositions and decorative and symbolic style. The fabulousness and fantasticism of the plots lead the artist to stylize the forms, enhancing the semantic symbolism and monumentality of the paintings. In the image of the painting "Heavenly Battle", clouds swirl over temples and lakes, alarmed by the wind of change. The plot of the painting "The Sich on Kerzhentse" is a battle between Russians and Tatars. In 1915, Roerich presented to the exhibition "The World of Art" paintings of a symbolic plan, written on the themes of the pre-war period: "Glow", "Cry of the Serpent", "Doomed Hail".

In 1923, the Roerich family went on a trip to India and Central Asia. Roerich visited thirty-five mountain ranges of Asia, the deserts of India, Tibet, China, Mongolia and wrote more than five hundred sketches and completed works. At the same time, the artist creates a series of paintings called "Teachers of the East". In the series, the artist included teachers of life, preachers of living ethics: Buddha, Mohammed, Christ, the philosophers Confucius, Lao Tzu and others. The series "Teachers of the East" is joined by many works on religious and symbolic themes. In the last period of Roerich's work, he uses for new art the spiritual riches of the East – plots of philosophical and symbolic content from the life of Buddha, Mohammed, Christ. Nikolai Konstantinovich lived in the mountains for 20 years. In creating landscapes, the artist depicted spatial plans in different systems of contrasts. The landscapes depicted glaciers of the Karakoram, Altai snows, stone cliffs of the Tibetan Plateau, transparent lakes and turbulent rivers descending from the mountains. Roerich dedicated more than 600 works to the Eastern Himalayas and Sikkim, putting into them a symbolic meaning of philosophical content, giving conditional and generalized forms to works of art, written in an aesthetically expressive decorative style and emotional sound of color. Nicholas Roerich lived abroad for many years, but by his mindset and spirituality he remained a Russian artist.

In 1898, a group of artists created the World of Art association with its aesthetic program of changing public taste in the spirit of the latest visual landmarks of Europeanism. Being a "miriskusnik", K.M. Somov (1869-1939) demonstrated indifference to the development of a new modernist style that characterizes the romantic-symbolic artistic system – a departure from nature to decorative flattening ^{[17, p. 15]}. The categories of linearity and flatness, ornamentation and decorativeness were clarified in theoretical articles and in practice. The articles were an example of the synthesis of elements from a set of techniques subject to the "law of beauty". However, at that time, it was not given to artists to become constructive [Ibid., p. 58]. K. Somov does not follow all the above criteria of modernity, but goes his own way. The artist is not attracted to either the heroic or the epic. Imbued with the spirit of the times, the artist romanticizes, synthesizing the real and fictional in his paintings. This is evidenced by the paintings "Lady by the Pond", "Letter", "Portrait of Benoit".

The time of modernity at the level of creating visual meanings is permeated with symbols and allegories. Creating the paintings "Greedy Monkey", "Senile Love", "Harlequin and Death", "Harlequin and the Lady" Somov was ironic about the new Art Nouveau style. In the subjects of the paintings, the artist depicted flying people on the skeletons of horses, brooms, as well as sorcerers and devils. In the picturesque fabric of the paintings there was not only irony, but also puppet theatricality, masquerade and caricature. In addition to ironic compositions, Somov created aesthetic images in decorative styles: "Fireworks", "Rainbow after a thunderstorm", "Summer", "Summer Morning". These aesthetically expressive paintings were created in several versions, each of which had its own special content.

Paintings with mirrors characterized another direction of Somov's creativity. These paintings were filled with the symbolic content of reflection in the mirror. The compositions of the paintings reflected not only the characters, but also the landscapes outside the window, as well as still lifes with allegorical meanings. The mirror represented a breakthrough into a different pictorial system of ideological symbolism. The images of the paintings "In Love", "Sleeping in a blue dress", "First Love", in which a young man is kneeling in front of a sleeping lady, "Napping in a black dress" synthesized real and fantastic features.

Being a master of portraiture, Somov focused on graphics, which were originally characterized by conventionality. Portrait images of people required detailing of the form in a unique content. Following the specifics of the graphic language, the artist showed a new style, a measure of conventionality and visual culture of the image. Somov portrayed people and artists close to him in drawings, watercolors and gouaches. In creating portraits, the master created integral and expressive portraits that reveal the characteristic features of people according to their inner world. Contour or planar drawings were decorative. In addition to graphic portraits, Somov performed illustrations for books, they were also always conditional and symbolic regarding the form and content revealed in books. The artist divided the portraits into "artistic" and "corrupt". The heroines of creative portraits in painting corresponded to spirituality and poetry. The portrait "Lady in Blue" by Elizoveta Martynova was conceptually conceived to the ideal of femininity and a symbol of the soul of the portrayed. K. Somov was based on the metophysical method of creating the form and content of paintings, while the compositions of paintings were analyzed and synthesized in connection with constructive realism.

V.E. Borisov-Musatov (1870-1905) created paintings of a new Art Nouveau style at the turn of the century. The creative individuality of the artist was expressed in the creation of musical harmony of symbolic images. The artist was looking for new means of decorative generalization of life observations, compositional logic in the expression of mood and poetic emotionality of content. All this led to the formation of an artistic ideal in the comprehension of the melodious lines of the spiritualized content of the images. The artist sought to bring his painting closer to music – creating compositions of a lyrical and romantic nature. The content of Musatov's painting was carried out by generalized symbolic means, nuances of delicate color shades.

In the creation of the painting "Tapestry", the artist showed his mature skill. For the first time, the artist finds a measure of conventionality in writing real images. In the "Pond" with portrait similarity, the artist depicts two friends – the artist's sister and the girl of his first love – the theme of the duet. Here, along with the conventionality, the artist's painting becomes decorative. According to the qualities of the integrity of the compositional and coloristic solution, the painting "Pond" is considered to be the main work of Somov. In the artist's work, the painting conveys the idea of musical harmony and poetically sublime feelings. In the compositional solution, the picture is constructed from two points of view, in which the view of the figures is depicted in full face, and the view of the reservoir is from above. Note that the artist uses repetition as a relationship. In the picture, the rounded line of the reservoir is repeated in the girls' dresses. Women's clothing is represented by generalized color spots and decorated with a decorative geometric pattern. In the coloristic solution, the main color is blue. Greenish and pink colors give the picture different shades of melody, expressing in sublime images the dreamy sadness of female images. The images of the paintings, "Emerald Necklace", "Requiem" are painted in the style of panels, The paintings are equally concrete and abstract. The artist, combining monumentality, conditional decorativeness and musicality, glorifies in his works the beauty of human life in unity with nature.

The cultural and historical development of the twentieth century is revealed as a continuous process of changing the form and content of artistic images. Each link of artistic culture expresses its own peculiarities of the development of symbolic meanings. Soviet art united the creative efforts of artists from different countries. Various national schools contributed to the development of Soviet artistic culture at a high aesthetic level. The art of the central part of the twentieth century revealed military themes, expressing tragic and heroic meanings in artistic images. In the visual arts, images associated with the war were based on the comparison of the high and the low, the beautiful and the ugly, and, at the same time, on the coincidence of aesthetic form with content. Artists of the last third of the twentieth century change the content, express in the images of art the themes of love for their native land and the themes of labor.

M.A. Savitskiy (1922-2010) was a Belarusian painter, who was captured during the war, he was sentenced to life-long hard labor in extermination camps. At the end of the war, the artist managed to survive. The artist saw monstrous crimes, so he sought to paint pictures about the war. Savitsky showed with the help of a specific language of painting what cannot be expressed in words. The artist, fluent in the means of pictorial language such as color, tone, silhouette, rhythm, plastic, composition and space, was distinguished by clarity in the expression of thought. The real events of the war years and the images of emaciated people did not look aesthetic. The artist creates works in the concept of the ideal, considering a person in his true essence to be beautiful. The value for Savitsky is the understanding of the beauty and spiritual power of a person, and not suffering. The artist sought to show the dignity of the human spirit and faith in victory in contrast to suffering and death.

The rational and constructive creativity of M. Savitskiy excludes naturalism, impulsivity and randomness. The artist's art expresses the authentic truth in a high artistic-figurative and symbolic generalization, following the thoughtfulness of the constructive structure of compositions from the large form to every detail. Without presenting a clear idea, the artist did not start working on the painting. A pronounced decorative and conditional image of spatial depth is created by the artist to highlight the plastic shapes in the composition and drawing.

The artist's creative path begins with a series of paintings "Numbers on the heart" (1974-1979). The series includes the following paintings: "Prisoner", "Golgotha of the twentieth century", "Selection", "Summer Theater", "Canada", "Singing Communists", "Escape", "Overseer", "Curse", "Dance with torches", "SOS". In the paintings, dead bodies are depicted in a conventionally decorative style, as if they are made of noble marble. The paintings reveal the idea of beauty in spite of the tragedy of what is being done. The artist uses various kinds of rhythms as compositional relationships. Rhythms develop in paintings in the directions of figures, their various movements, as well as in the structures of objects and paintings.

The series "Partisans of the Great Patriotic War" was embodied in the following paintings: "Partisans", "Partisans, Blockade", "Execution", "Vitebsk Gate", "Oath", "Murder of a partisan's family", "Wounded Partisan", "Bolshevik", "Komsomol Members", "Crying for fallen heroes" "Refugees", "Children of War", "Partisan Madonna", "In Memory of Underground Communists", and others. The meaning of all these paintings is in the tragedy of life and heroic departure to another world, expressed in the dynamic rhythms of movements, characteristic silhouettes, as well as in the dramatic dark red color of the paintings. In creating paintings, the artist uses constructive realism to a greater extent than metaphysics, while all the components of the artistic image are connected together. The artist dedicated the cycles of all these paintings on military subjects to the memory of all those who died during the war.

The main themes of the works of art by the Georgian artist N.Y. Ignatov (1937-2002) are the harmony of nature and man, love for the native land, for its people, history, traditions and artistic traditions of the Georgian people. The artist's creativity was most significantly manifested in the monumental paintings "Song of Georgia" on Pitsunda in the public center of the resort town on the Black Sea coast and "Soviet Georgia" in the sanatorium "Sunny" and others. All the murals are imbued with a philosophical understanding of the comprehensive coverage of the Georgian land and the fruits of creative imagination aimed at inventing the form of images. A glance at the space of the painting embraces the earth with its high mountains and fertile valleys, villages, temples and fortresses, generous nature and people inhabiting it. Complexes of mini-plots in paintings symbolizing the cycle of life are written based on the principle of carpet in conventionally decorative forms alien to everyday life. A variety of generalized images, made on the basis of two different scales, fill the entire space of the paintings. Images crowd each other, and some are built on top of others.

The integral spatial composition of the symbolic image of the panel is complemented by conditional constructions emphasizing the idea of expressing the main meaning and artistic symbolism revealing additional allegorical meanings. For example, the image of a woman with a bunch of grapes. All together symbolizes the wealth of the Georgian land and the beauty of its life.

A.S. Yakovleva argues that the attraction to flatness has a conceptual character in symbolism, but the principle of "carpet" in the spatial organization of the composition contributes to the conflict in the semantic meaning of the figure and background. According to A. Yakovleva, following the carpet principle, the decorative-organized plane is expressed according to the principle of semantic parallels and internal associations, it is also organized due to repetitions in the creation of forms ^{[18, p. 136]}. Further, Yakovleva writes that in the symbolic expression of "going deep", the tendency of gravitation to flatness remains. The color accentuation of the form leads to a deepening of meanings and, in turn, to a flattening of the form [Ibid., p. 137]. The planar decorativeness and spatial depth in the paintings meet different purposes. Thus, the decorative flatness of a painting or painting has a single system of contrasts, and therefore organically combines with the plane of the wall and is a means of decorating it. And this is different from the organization of the spatial plans of the picture. In expressing the artistically organized depth of space, each of the plans has its own subsystem of contrasts. The first plan in the plan system has the strongest contrasts due to the large values of locally colored planes. Here, the volume or flatness depends on the artist's concept, dictated by the desire to express through the aesthetic form of the image the meaning of the spatial depth of the picture, spiritually exciting the viewer's experiences, the sequence of comprehension of plans that take the perception of a person into the distance. At the same time, it should be noted that the application of the principle of the relationship between the real and the conditional contributes to endless symbolic discoveries in the expression of meanings and the diversity of the development of artistic images in the visual arts.

The main goal of the Azerbaijani artist Salakhov Teymur oglu (1928 - 2021) is to philosophically comprehend and create the depth of symbolic meanings of people's labor heroism. The paintings "Repairmen", "From the Watch", "New Sea" demonstrate symbolically generalized images of contemporaries, the labor exploits of strong-minded people in unity with nature. The images of the paintings are revealed in the dynamism of movements expressing the tension of all human forces in the fight against the elements. There is no plot in the film "Women of Absheron". Monumental images of women of different ages symbolize the psychological experiences of patience in waiting for men from the sea. In addition to paintings, Salakhov creates psychological portraits of composers Kara Karaev, Fikter Amirov, Dmitry Shostakovich. Portraits convey, in the generalized symbolic language of art, the inner experiences of deeply self-absorbed personalities. The constructive realism of Tahir's painting is based on the concept of the worldview of a harsh style, constructive construction of compositions, the clarity of the spatial structure of the form and the synthesis of various graphic, pictorial and decorative means in the representation of non-multicolored wide planes of monumental images of fine art.

2. Allegorical images of fine art. Allegorical images as well as symbolic images are based on visual thinking.

Following constructive realism in the construction of an allegorical image, an unambiguous allegorical meaning is created, associatively linked with specific objects or phenomena that are close in meaning. So, for example, the properties of people are often expressed through animals. The lion characterizes power, the fox – cunning, and the hare – cowardice. This is how the allegorical meaning differs from the infinitely ambiguous symbolic meaning, which has philosophical, religious, social and other meanings.

The allegorical meaning of an artistic image means something else, representing abstract meanings through concrete objectivity. For example, the image of specific scales expresses the abstract meaning of truthfulness. In painting, the artist looks for similarities between the signs of visual forms of objects and allegorical meanings expressing meanings. So, a still life of black bread and a glass of water conveys the hunger of war.

The realistic allegory of the painting appeals to the understanding of the deep meaning inherent in the image. For example, in the Middle Ages, the four original elements Fire, Water, Air and Earth were depicted in the forms of animals and birds. The fire symbolized a fire-breathing dragon. The water was represented by a fish, the symbol of the air was a bird. The symbol of the Earth was associated with the largest and strongest animal – an elephant carrying the earth. The elephant symbolized Christ. It was believed that Christ descended to Earth from the spiritual sphere, was sinless and so strong that he was able to bear the sins of all people on his shoulders.

The search for the meaning of an allegorical image corresponding to the idea as well as a symbolic image requires artistic interpretations of the visual qualities of the form of objects. V.V. Vlasov, describing allegorical images of fine art, believes that animals or human figures with attributes having fixed symbols express certain meanings. For example, the image of a lion represents strength, an eagle – vigilance, an owl – wisdom. The allegorical meaning is manifested either by virtue of the real properties of the object, or associatively, by analogy with other phenomena of nature and human life. V. Vlasov reveals the allegorical type of the image in connection with the use of the following conventional methods of its construction: personification – the transfer of the properties of an animate image to an inanimate object), synecdoche (the image of the whole through the transformation of parts), hyperbole (exaggerations), litotes (understatements) ^{[19, p. 160]}. All these methods are involved in identifying allegorical meanings in artistic images.

In addition, visual metaphors are used in the construction of allegorical meaning. For example, a mirror expresses a metaphor of reflection.Being a way of detachment from reality, metaphor is associated with the image of visually constructed allegorical images, which are perceived in connection with the comparison of objects and phenomena opposite in meaning, as well as the exchange of signs, while one phenomenon is likened to another, generating associations. The synthesis of the properties of different characters reveals a new meaning, for example, a black horse, combining the qualities of a raven and a horse. Rethinking the image causes a person to have a speculative perception.

So, the artistic images of fine art in the expression of symbolic meanings clearly demonstrate the content of cultural values, meanings and phenomena of the cultural and historical time in which the artist lives and acts. The study revealed that the works of art were executed in the interaction of metaphysics and constructive realism, with some artists dominated by one side of the dual mode of action, others – the other. In addition, the function of the artist's creative imagination is interconnected with his spiritual ability to feel which features that are significant for the image need to be strengthened and which ones need to be weakened. Each artist idealizes the created image in his own way, interprets the forms of objects in different artistic ways, performed a different degree and nature of the detail of images.

It should be noted that each epoch renews the cultural means of image, while the use of symbolic content in the creation of paintings, the application of the principle of merging the real and the conditional is gradually increasing. Geometric and artistic-decorative languages for constructing the form of images appear in art, new visual contexts of form meanings and meanings appear. A new understanding of the world is being developed and displayed in the images of fine art. All these updates allowed constructive realism to acquire paramount importance in the construction of images in relation to the metaphysical creation of images.

3. Creation of a new author's model of the laws of constructive realism to be built in artistic images-symbols of the unity of the diverseConstructive realism in the construction of images renounces material naturalness, aims at constructive reflection in the transmission of entities, in the coordination of data, and also the creation of the form of models with minimal use of means.

Knowledge of typification, synthesis and stylization, as well as various forms of artistic-aesthetic and visual-theoretical generalizations are used in the construction of images-models of a certain content. In this connection, two figurative foundations are integrated – artistic and visual, while the viewer perceives not only the whole, but also parts, each of which has its own meanings and meanings. The artist has to distinguish the meanings of fragments of an integral artistic image from the meanings of a constructive process associated with methods and means, their content is represented in visual images.

Representing rational knowledge, visual images become a means of active cognition and construction of the meanings of the form of the image. The system of visual images represents a constructive process. The result of the process is an integrative form of an artistic image that has a symbolic meaning. By presenting visual images, the artist focuses on understanding concepts that can express meaning. With the active role of the artist's creative imagination, works of fine art express the meanings of life phenomena in an expressive form characteristic of their era. The content of art becomes both the elevation and the exposure of reality.

Considering works of art from the standpoint of an artistic and aesthetic ideal, one can see that the subject component without a complex of transformations related to the plot, composition and form does not express the meaning of the artistic image. When implementing an idea that transforms the source material, each of the additional meanings begins to influence the main meaning of the artistic image and its symbol. The artistic image represents an ideal model in which everything superfluous is removed, the form and content are generalized and idealized, so the image, having aesthetic expressiveness, becomes understandable for everyone.

The German art critic G. Zedlmayr gives an explanation important for the harmonization of the artistic image. The scientist claims that without the perception of integrity and style in the creation of the image, the study of the properties of the parts of the work may not yield results ^{[20, p. 69]}. The scientist also emphasizes that in the holistic form of the image, the elements mutually define each other. Every detail gets aesthetic value due to its inclusion in a dissected and structured whole. G. Zedlmayr gives an example with color. Color gets meaning only in the integrity of the picture. In another painting, the same color may mean something else [Ibid., pp. 147-148]. It can be seen from the statement that the artist uses constructive realism to create an artistic image built in the synthesis of an integral form that has all the meanings of visually perceived parts. Although Mr. Zedlmayr clearly does not talk about it.

The matter of real objects is perceived as integral and undivided. In creating a new image, each of the artistic and aesthetic means taken outside of the construction of an integral structure does not make sense. The artist creates a concept of using means that can express the symbolic meanings of an artistic image. In this connection, the personality analyzes the differences of the parts of the image and common features, also synthesizes all the parts forming the structure of the composition and their interrelations.

Constructive realism imposes mental representations associated with a system of values and ideals of image construction on the perception of real objects. In creating possible forms in unity with the content of artistic images of fine art, constructive realism requires the application on a rational basis of the principle of the unity of the manifold. Artists are looking for the correspondence of parts to the whole in a proportionate consistency of the general cultural and personal, universal and specific, ideal and real. The unity of the diverse in the construction of artistic images depends on the interrelation of four natural processes:

The first regularity of constructive realism in the construction of artistic images of fine art is based on the search for original ideas abstracted from reality, capable of conveying deeper symbolic meanings than conventional forms of realism can convey. The essence of the unity of the diverse in the creation of symbolic meanings consists in the construction of the form of the image on the basis of constructive and conditionally decorative ideas that unite the heterogeneous. In combining forms of various configurations, the artist experiments with ideas, analogies and associations – a field of possibilities for transforming the world and creating new images. The ideas of symbolic meanings are constructed in the visual arts as artistic dominants connecting real and conditional forms, geometric shapes can be used in the expression of conditional forms. For example, a circle symbolizes the integrity and completeness of the world, a square represents orderliness and stability, a triangle with an upward point characterizes the symbol of wisdom and spirituality associated with the idea of the trinity.

The idea of creating an image of symbolic meaning has the ability to emotionally influence people. If there is no idea expressing meaning, fine art acquires utilitarian forms, Such paintings can serve as interior decoration. But when an artistic image is based on the idea of experiencing meaning as an aesthetic unity of diversity, a work of art expresses a spiritual or symbolic meaning. Note that the primary not entirely accurate representation of the ideas of transformation of a real prototype includes the expression of form in unity with content, views on the ideal, material, aesthetic and emotional – an open process dependent on the imagination of the artist. The ideas of constructing a form expressing meanings are refined throughout the constructive process.

The second regularity consists in the creation of images of spatial images of the real world as a unity of the manifold based on the sign-symbolic means of geometric language. In the construction of a holistic image, signs replace the essential features of real objects with concepts and their meanings. Visual symbols are constructed in images, include the conceptual content of entities and the author's attitude. Symbols contribute to the construction of the spatial structure of the form in the image in accordance with the real object. The structure of the form is ordered in a logical system of values. The meaning of a sign and its symbol depend on the visual context of the form expressing the content, as well as relations with other sign-symbolic contexts of the language.

The analysis of the ideal completeness of the essential features of a three-dimensional object in a homogeneous system of relationships and the construction of a system of values of the shape structure by means of a geometric language leads to the synthesis of any variety of complexly organized objects. Performing analysis is the application of cultural knowledge in the construction of real objects and their representation in visual images. Conventionality is manifested here in the strengthening of abstraction, due to the need to penetrate into the essence of phenomena, comprehension of objective laws of nature such as perspective and chiaroscuro. This knowledge manifests itself in geometric generalizations of objects, reveals generally significant conventional meanings of meanings in the spatial structure of the form.

The viewer does not perceive conventional sign-symbolic systems of geometric language in the picture. In contemplating the image, the viewer is presented with a complex of convincing sensations of the shape of space artificially caused by the artist. G. Nedashivin argues that if the form is ignored in the work, then nothing can be understood in it. Ideas, moods and feelings are fixed in the form of fine art, create an emotional charge, immersing a person in a certain atmosphere of content ^{[21, pp. 106-107]}.

The third regularity of constructive realism is the creation of new meanings in artistic images. Meanings are revealed through the visual context of the transformation of the spatial structure of real objects by means of artistic interpretations or the construction of new compositions based on the ideological values set relative to the plan. In order for the features of the depicted forms of artistic images to represent symbolic meanings, artistic interpretations are associated with the deconstruction of the integral image and the reinterpretation of individual parts of the form. Geometric symbols are recoded in the basis of creative ideas of interpretation, while the spatial structure of the image form is transformed into an aesthetic ideal expressing symbolic meaning.

In the construction of the aesthetically expressive structure of the form, heuristic principles of artistic and aesthetic expressiveness are used as interpretants. The artist makes a subjective choice of principles from the field of possible ones, such as symmetry and asymmetry, dynamics and statics, contrast and nuance, rhythm, compositional center, etc. In the use of multivalued heuristic principles of aesthetic expressiveness aimed at revealing the content of the image, artistic interpretations work with uncertainties – a productive creative process.

Revealing the form- and semantic-creative idea of fine art, each of the principles is presented in a visual image discretely. The artist aims to find certain relationships on one of the layers of the image. The synthesis of interrelations leads to the unity of the diverse on each of the layers of the image necessary and sufficient for the construction of an integral form of the image and their integration, expressing the symbolic content and self-expression of the personality. For example, the principle of hierarchy opens up wide possibilities in creating the meaning of an artistic image. Symbolic meanings are constructed in an ordered hierarchy of ideas included in artistic interpretations. In the construction of the semantic model of the picture, the idea of hierarchy is divided into forms of different significance. The more significant forms are in the compositional center, in connection with which they are depicted by the most expressive means, and the less significant parts of the whole acquire a subordinate meaning. The flow of a dynamic structure from one form to another forms the principle of rhythm. The dynamics of the flow of forms in the rhythm is carried out in repetition and change. The process of any repetition determines the connection between the details of the image and their synthesis, and the process of change requires an artistic interpretation of the data. Applying the principles in the construction of an artistic image, the artist experiments with visual contexts of the form of parts of the whole that can express meaning, while taking into account some features of the form and abandoning others.

The fourth regularity of constructive realism in the construction of art images is that artistic images always differ in some style created using conventional means. The stylistic integrity of the image is achieved by artistic language in the synthesis of real and, to varying degrees, conditional features of the form. Each part of the set of an artistic image is distinctive in its own way, carries its own structural, functional and meaningful meaning, also has a certain meaning as part of the whole, therefore it is constructed differently. To achieve this goal, the methodological principle of constructive realism is applied: "the same system of signs of expressiveness is used in its entirety, but in each of the parts in a different way." The principle contributes to the ordering of the form and content of the image, the achievement of an aesthetically expressive style built in connection with the repeatability of several heterogeneous features. Different feature systems characterize different styles and structures of the form. The stylistic unity of the manifold is achieved in the construction of a system of form representing the hidden symbolic meaning of the image. The use of the principle provides artistic images with harmony, harmonious simplicity of composition and visual clarity in the perception of content.

In the form of constructive realism, there is a potential possibility of creating artistic images that convey the content of real reality and other symbolic meanings encoded for visual communication with people. The symbolic image has an emotional effect on people's consciousness. The forms of images representing symbolic content are constructed conceptually, as a result they become a way of expressing the depth of fine art, arousing sublime feelings in the audience.

Interpretation of symbolic meanings occurs rationally on the basis of worldview and emotionality, and this interpretation is much deeper than in the sensory perception of images. Symbolic meanings of artistic images constructed in constructive realism have stable conventional meanings and codes, in connection with which they allow the viewer to correctly interpret certain symbols. For example, the images of young people in artistic generalization express "youth", and a woman with a child – "motherhood". For example, the depth of the heroic meaning can be conveyed through the experience of the hero, his courageous image, dynamic movement and expressive impulse. All these codes of interpretation of symbolic meanings relate to visual culture, its cognitive and moral values.

The patterns of constructive realism in achieving the unity of the diverse give rise to fundamentally new artistic images. The elements of the images are identical to each other and to the general symbolic meaning. In art and design education, the consistent assimilation of the laws of a new methodological model of constructive realism aimed at building image models in the visual arts has been successfully tested.

4. ConclusionThus, the leading role in the visual arts is played by the way of constructing a form that expresses the content.

The symbolic meanings of artistic images are achieved mainly in two ways: metaphysical and constructive realism. The article analyzes two concepts of the application of methods of action, as a result of which symbolic meanings of artistic images are created. The first concept is the construction of the unity of the manifold in the images of art. The artist expresses through the form of the image the content of the symbolic meaning corresponding to the idea. The second concept is the construction through the visual form of a different content of allegorical meanings. In the creation of images of fine art, a gradual increase in the method of constructive realism in relation to the use of a metaphysical method of action is revealed.

The symbolic meaning of the artistic image is expressed in constructive realism in the ideological and meaningful meanings of the structure of the whole. It should be noted that symbolic and allegorical meanings have two main types of meanings: pictorial, associated with the perception and creation of the form of real objects and intelligible – these are semantic meanings, they are not perceived in objects of the real world, artists and viewers make sense of them in the understanding of artistic images.In depicting the forms of real objects, symbols and allegories have conventional meanings known in culture.

In addition to these meanings, meanings are built on the meanings of the plan that are additional to their real meaning. The correlation of the complex of meanings corresponding to real prototypes and creative and constructive ideas of their partial transformation is conceptually constructed in the unity of the objective and subjective in connection with the values of cultural and historical time and the ideals of the artist.

The construction of works of fine art in constructive realism has a certain relationship between visual and artistic images. Visual images represent a constructive process, and an artistic image represents the result. In this connection, the method of constructive realism is realized in the parallel execution of two plans. The first plan is associated with a constructive process representing the probabilistic expression of the real in generalized and conditionally decorative forms of images. The second plan consistently represents the image in the unity of the manifold, which has a visual system of meanings of the idea, expressing the symbolic meaning of the artistic image.

The article presents the author's model of the laws of constructive realism in achieving the unity of the diverse, creating a symbolic meaning of the artistic image. The main principle of the new model of constructive realism, corresponding to the visual communication of the XXI century, is the principle of merging the real and the conditional in the construction of images of fine art. Following this principle, the system of values of real prototypes is depicted in geometric language. Intelligible meanings are associated with the accentuation of the essential features of the spatial form by conventional means of artistic interpretations expressing a model of complementary meanings in the unity of the manifold. As a result, a single symbol of the artistic image is formed.