Alphonse Osbert was a Symbolist painter who was in the avant-garde in his day and painted some of the best examples of pure Symbolist art at the height of the movement. Alphonse Osbert worked in the studios of Henri Lehmann, Fernand Cormon and Léon Bonnat. His style was initially influenced by Spanish Old Masters and was naturalistic, as was common at the time. However, he later adopted more progressive Post-Impressionist styles and experimented with revisionist or pointillist techniques, thanks to his friendship with Georges Seurat. His most significant influence, however, was Symbolism, as expressed in the paintings of Pierre Puvis de Chavannes, and he soon abandoned painting scenes from the real world in search of deeper meanings.

Osbert painted an unusual portrait of the ancient Greek poet Sappho shortly after coming under the influence of Puvis de Chavannes. The painting avoids any narrative and establishes his approach to symbolism with a very limited palette, simplified earth forms and a rising or setting sun or moon. The painting Vision of Saint Genevieve could be mistaken for a painting of Joan of Arc, but it is the Vision of Saint Genevieve. Genevieve had similarly humble roots as a peasant girl in Nanterre who frequently had visions that led her to save the city from Attila's attack in 451. Osbert limits his colors to blue and green, which have symbolic associations with melancholy and hope, respectively. This is probably the best known work by Alphonse Osbert. The work Reverie in the Night combines similar elements to create a painting of profound tranquility that defies any detailed reading. Alphonse Osbert was among those exhibited with the Artist of the Soul in the lobby of the Théâtre de la Bodinière in Paris. Other well-known Symbolists who founded this breakaway movement were Carlos Schwabe, Edmond Aman-Jean, and Lucien Lévy-Dhurmer. Although it attracted the attention of critics of the time, its impact was less.

The painting the Solitude of Christ introduces a sharp color contrast with the moon on the horizon. There are still traces of his earlier pointillist technique in the sky above the horizon. In the early years of the 20th century, Osbert executed a number of commissions for large murals, including at least two for the thermal baths at Vichy. The work Sleeping Nymph adds a bit more background detail and the golden hair and lyre of the nymph, but uses even more colors. Alphonse Osbert carefully added more detail and slightly less severe color palettes in later paintings. The work Lyricism in the Forest has a rich color palette and looks much more representative, although its figures remain statuesque. The Muse at Sunrise was painted at the end of World War I to show the effects of morning light on tree canopies and textured bark. His painting Evening Harmony on the Sea is reminiscent of Sappho, although these rocks are not meant to represent Leucadian Cliff, from which she supposedly threw herself. Alphonse Osbert died in Paris in 1939, just weeks before the start of World War II.