Art Nouveau

Art Nouveau was an international style of art, architecture, and decorative arts. It became popular between 1890 and 1910. The style was inspired by natural forms, like the curves of plants and flowers. Artists used modern materials such as iron, glass, and ceramics to create unique shapes and open spaces. Art Nouveau aimed to make fine arts, like painting, and applied arts, such as furniture and textiles, feel more connected.

The style first appeared in Brussels in the 1890s. Architects like Victor Horta helped start this style. His Hôtel Tassel was finished in 1893. It quickly spread to Paris, where Hector Guimard used it for the entrances of the new Paris Métro. The peak of Art Nouveau was shown at the 1900 Paris International Exposition. Artists such as Louis Tiffany showed their work there.

From Europe, Art Nouveau spread to many cities. These included Turin, Palermo, Glasgow, Munich, Darmstadt, Barcelona, and Helsinki. By the start of the First World War in 1914, Art Nouveau began to fade. It was later replaced by Art Deco and modernism. Interest in Art Nouveau grew again in the late 1960s. This led to exhibitions and new appreciation for its unique designs.

Naming

The term Art Nouveau started in the 1880s in a Belgian journal called L'Art Moderne. It described artists called Les Vingt who wanted to change art. The name became well-known because of an art gallery in Paris named Maison de l'Art Nouveau. It opened in 1895 by an art dealer named Siegfried Bing.

Art Nouveau had different names in different countries. In German, it was called Jugendstil. In Italian, it was Stile Liberty. In Catalan, it was Modernisme. In English, it was often the Modern Style. Each country had its own name for this style.

History

The Art Nouveau movement began in Britain. It was inspired by the floral designs of William Morris and the Arts and Crafts movement. Early examples include the Red House and the Peacock Room. The movement was also influenced by Pre-Raphaelite painters and British graphic artists of the 1880s.

In France, the style was shaped by Eugène Viollet-le-Duc. He believed in using nature as a model and made ideas about function and form. His ideas influenced architects like Louis Sullivan, Victor Horta, Hector Guimard, and Antoni Gaudí.

French painters like Maurice Denis, Pierre Bonnard, and Édouard Vuillard helped blend fine art with decoration. The enthusiasm for Japanese woodblock prints, known as Japonism, also played a role. It influenced artists such as Gustav Klimt. New printing technologies helped spread Art Nouveau globally through art magazines.

The first Art Nouveau town houses, Hankar House by Paul Hankar and Hôtel Tassel by Victor Horta, were built in Brussels. Horta’s Hôtel Tassel is a landmark of the style. It has open interiors with skylights and floral decorations. Hankar also innovated with glass display windows and murals.

In Paris, Siegfried Bing opened the Maison de l'Art Nouveau gallery in 1895. It showcased modern works. Hector Guimard built the Castel Béranger. He blended Neo-Gothic and Art Nouveau styles with curving lines and natural forms. Guimard later designed entrances for the Paris Métro system.

The Paris Exposition Universelle of 1900 was the peak of Art Nouveau. It attracted millions of visitors. It displayed Art Nouveau architecture, design, glassware, furniture, and decorative objects. The Exposition featured works by designers from across Europe and beyond, including Alphonse Mucha, Bruno Paul, Carlo Bugatti, and Louis Comfort Tiffany. Other expositions helped popularize the style.

Local variations

Art Nouveau in France

After the 1900 Exposition, Paris became the center of Art Nouveau. The most extravagant homes in this style were built by Jules Lavirotte, who covered the building fronts with ceramic decorations. The Lavirotte Building at 29, avenue Rapp (1901) is a famous example. Office buildings and stores had high courtyards with stained glass and ceramic designs. The style was popular in restaurants and cafes, such as Maxim's at 3, rue Royale, and Le Train bleu at the Gare de Lyon (1900).

Paris attracted artists from other countries. The Swiss artist Eugène Grasset created some of the first French Art Nouveau posters. He helped decorate the cabaret Le Chat Noir in 1885 and made posters for the Fêtes de Paris. Swiss-born Théophile-Alexandre Steinlen created a poster for the Paris cabaret Le Chat noir in 1896. The Czech artist Alphonse Mucha arrived in Paris in 1888 and made a famous poster for actress Sarah Bernhardt in 1895.

The city of Nancy in Lorraine became another center for Art Nouveau in France. In 1901, the Alliance provinciale des industries d'art, also called the École de Nancy, was founded. Major artists there included glass creators Émile Gallé, the Daum brothers, and designer Louis Majorelle, who made furniture with plant-like shapes. The architect Henri Sauvage built the Villa Majorelle in Nancy in 1902.

Art Nouveau in Belgium

Belgium was an early center of Art Nouveau, mainly due to the architecture of Victor Horta. He designed one of the first Art Nouveau houses, the Hôtel Tassel in 1893, and three other townhouses in a similar style. These buildings are now UNESCO World Heritage sites. Horta influenced Hector Guimard, who visited the Hôtel Tassel and later said Horta was the "inventor" of Art Nouveau. Horta's designs used iron and glass to create open spaces filled with light, decorated with curved plant-like shapes.

Paul Hankar was another pioneer in Brussels' Art Nouveau. His house, finished in 1893, featured wall murals on the front. Hankar was influenced by Viollet-le-Duc and the English Arts and Crafts movement. He worked with sculptors and painters to decorate house fronts with their art. The most famous example is the house and studio for artist Albert Ciamberlani, covered with painted murals and decorations.

Gustave Strauven started as an assistant to Horta and later opened his own practice. His most famous work is the Saint-Cyr House in Brussels, which is only 4 meters wide but very tall due to its elaborate design. The house is covered with colored bricks and curved iron decorations.

Other important Art Nouveau artists from Belgium included architect and designer Henry van de Velde, decorator Gustave Serrurier-Bovy, and graphic artist Fernand Khnopff. Belgian designers used a lot of ivory from the Belgian Congo; sculptures mixing stone, metal, and ivory by artists like Philippe Wolfers were popular.

Nieuwe Kunst in the Netherlands

In the Netherlands, the style was called the Nieuwe Stijl ('New Style') or Nieuwe Kunst ('New Art'). It was different from the more curved, plant-like style in Belgium, being more geometric and influenced by German Jugendstil and Austrian Vienna Secession. It was also influenced by art and woods from the Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia), especially textile designs and batik from Java.

The most important architect and furniture designer was Hendrik Petrus Berlage, who believed in functional architecture and designing furniture that respected the natural shape of wood. His most famous building was the Beurs van Berlage (1896–1903), the Amsterdam Commodities Exchange, built with functional lines and tall towers.

Other buildings in the style include the American Hotel (1898–1900), Astoria (1904–1905) in Amsterdam, the railway station in Haarlem (1906–1908), and the former office of the Holland America Lines (1917) in Rotterdam, now the Hotel New York.

Important graphic artists included Jan Toorop, whose work had mystical and symbolic elements. Artists in ceramics and porcelain, like Jurriaan Kok and Theo Colenbrander, used colorful floral patterns and traditional Art Nouveau designs combined with unusual pottery shapes and contrasting colors from Javanese batik.

Modern Style and Glasgow School in Britain

Main article: Modern Style (British Art Nouveau style)

Jugendstil in Germany

Secession in Austria–Hungary

Vienna Secession

Main article: Vienna Secession

Vienna became the center of a distinct Art Nouveau variant called the Vienna Secession. Founded in April 1897 by artists including Gustav Klimt, Koloman Moser, Josef Hoffmann, Joseph Maria Olbrich, Max Kurzweil, and Ernst Stöhr, the group opposed the conservative Vienna Künstlerhaus. They founded a magazine, Ver Sacrum, to promote their work. Architect Joseph Olbrich designed the domed Secession building, which showcased Klimt's paintings and other Secession art.

Klimt became the best-known Secession painter, often blending fine art and decorative painting. Koloman Moser was a versatile artist whose work included illustrations, architecture, silverware, ceramics, porcelain, textiles, stained glass, and furniture.

The most prominent architect of the Vienna Secession was Otto Wagner, who joined the movement after its start. His major projects included several urban rail stations (the Stadtbahn), the Linke Wienzeile Buildings, and the Kirche am Steinhof of Steinhof Psychiatric hospital (1904–1907), a unique religious building with a traditional dome but a sleek, modern gold and white interior lit by modern stained glass.

In 1899, Joseph Maria Olbrich moved to the Darmstadt Artists' Colony. In 1903, Koloman Moser and Josef Hoffmann founded the Wiener Werkstätte, a school and workshop for designers and craftsmen. In 1905, Moser and Gustav Klimt left the Vienna Secession, and later Moser left the Wiener Werkstätte. Josef Hoffmann joined the Deutscher Werkbund. Klimt and Hoffmann continued collaborating, organizing the Kunstschau Exhibition in 1908 and building the Stoclet Palace in Brussels (1905–1911), which announced the arrival of modernist architecture and was designated a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 2009.

Hungarian Szecesszió

The pioneer of the Szecesszió ('Secession' in Hungarian) was architect Ödön Lechner, who created buildings marking the transition from historicism to modernism in Hungarian architecture. He used architectural ceramics and oriental motifs, with pygorganite produced by the Zsolnay Porcelain Manufactory. His works include the Museum of Applied Arts (1893–1896), Geological Museum (1896–1899), and The Postal Savings Bank building (1899–1902) in Budapest. Despite opposition from the Hungarian architectural establishment, Lechner inspired the next generation of architects who popularized the new style.

Another important architect was Károly Kós, a follower of John Ruskin and William Morris. Kós took the Finnish National Romanticism movement as a model and Transylvanian vernacular as inspiration. His notable works include the Roman Catholic Church in Zebegény (1908–09), pavilions for the Budapest Municipal Zoo (1909–1912), and the Székely National Museum in Sepsiszentgyörgy (now Sfântu Gheorghe, Romania, 1911–12).

The movement promoting Szecesszió in arts was the Gödöllő Art Colony, founded in 1901 by Aladár Körösfői-Kriesch, a follower of Ruskin and Morris and a professor at the Royal School of Applied Arts in Budapest. Artists from the colony worked on projects including the Franz Liszt Academy of Music in Budapest.

An associate of the Gödöllő Art Colony, Miksa Róth, was involved in dozens of Szecesszió projects, including Budapest buildings like Gresham Palace (stained glass, 1906) and Török Bank (mosaics, 1906), as well as mosaics and stained glass for the Palace of Culture (1911–1913) in Marosvásárhely.

A notable furniture designer is Ödön Faragó who combined traditional popular architecture, oriental architecture, and international Art Nouveau in a picturesque style. Pál Horti, another Hungarian designer, had a more sober and functional style, using oak with delicate traceries of ebony and brass.

Secession in Bohemia, Moravia and Slovakia

The most notable Secession buildings in Prague are examples of total art with distinctive architecture, sculpture, and paintings. The main railway station (1901–1909) was designed by Josef Fanta and features paintings by Václav Jansa and sculptures by Ladislav Šaloun and Stanislav Sucharda. The Municipal House (1904–1912) was designed by Osvald Polívka and Antonín Balšánek, painted by Alphonse Mucha, and features sculptures by Josef Mařatka and Ladislav Šaloun. Polívka, Mařatka, and Šaloun also worked on the New City Hall (1908–1911) with Stanislav Sucharda, and Mucha later painted stained glass windows for St. Vitus Cathedral in Prague.

The most important Czech architect was Jan Kotěra, who studied in Vienna under Otto Wagner. His best-known works are the Peterka House at 12 Wenceslas Square in Prague (1899–1900), the National House in Prostějov (1905–1907), and the Museum of Eastern Bohemia in Hradec Králové (1909–1912). Many important Viennese architects were born in Moravia or Austrian Silesia, like Josef Hoffmann, Hubert Gessner, Joseph Maria Olbrich, and Leopold Bauer.

The style of combining Hungarian Szecesszió and national architectural elements was typical for Slovak architect Dušan Jurkovič. His most original works are the Cultural House in Szakolca (now Skalica in Slovakia, 1905), spa buildings in Luhačovice (1901–1903), and 35 war cemeteries near Nowy Żmigród in Galicia (now Poland), influenced by local Lemko (Rusyn) folk art and carpentry (1915–1917).

Secession in Galicia

The most important centers of Secession in Galicia were Kraków, Lviv, and Bielsko-Biała. The most important example in Kraków is the Palace of Art (1898–1901), designed by Franciszek Mączyński under the influence of the Secession Hall in Vienna. Other works by Mączyński with Tadeusz Stryjeński include the House Under the Globe (1904–1905) and the Old Theater (1903–1906). The most important interior designers were Stanisław Wyspiański and Józef Mehoffer, who designed stained glass windows and building interiors. Wyspiański's major works include stained glasses in the Franciscan Church and the House of the Krakow Medical Society (1905). Mehoffer's work includes the interior of the House Under the Globe.

In Lviv, the most important architect was Władysław Sadłowski, who studied in Vienna and was influenced by Otto Wagner. He designed the Lviv railway station (1899–1904), the Lviv's Philharmonic (1905–1908), and the Industrial School (1907–1908). Other architects inspired by Wagner included Ivan Levynskyi.

One of the most famous buildings in Bielsko-Biała is the so-called Frog House by Emanuel Rost (1903). Other examples were designed by Viennese architects: Max Fabiani, author of the house at 1 Barlickiego Street (1900), and Leopold Bauer, who designed the house at 51 Stojałowskiego Street (1903) and the rebuilding of the Saint Nicholas' Cathedral (1909–10).

Secession in Slovenia, Bosnia, Croatia and Trieste

The most prolific Slovenian Secession architect was Ciril Metod Koch. He studied under Otto Wagner in Vienna and worked in the Laybach (now Ljubljana, Slovenia) City Council from 1894 to 1923. After the 1895 earthquake, he designed many secular buildings in Secession style from 1900 to 1910: Pogačnik House (1901), Čuden Building (1901), The Farmers Loan Bank (1906–07), and the renovated Hauptmann Building (1904). His highlight was the Loan Bank in Radmannsdorf (now Radovljica) in 1906.

Other important Slovene architects active in Bosnia included Josip Vancaš, author of the Grand Hotel Union (1902–1903), City Savings Bank in Ljubljana (1902–1903), the Ješua D. Salom Mansion (1901), and the Central Post Office in Sarajevo (1907–1913). Jože Plečnik and Max Fabiani, both important Vienna Secession architects, were born in Slovenia. Fabiani designed buildings in Slovenia and Trieste, like the Bartoli House in Trieste (1906).

In Croatia, important examples include the Kallina House in Zagreb by Vjekoslav Bastl (1903–1904) and the Croatian State Archives in Zagreb by Rudolf Lubinski (1911–1913).

Arta 1900 or Art Nouveau in Romania

Art Nouveau appeared in Romania during the same years as in Western Europe (early 1890s until the outbreak of World War I in 1914), but few buildings are in this style, with Beaux-Arts being predominant. The most famous is the Constanța Casino. Most Romanian examples mix Beaux-Arts and Art Nouveau, like the Romulus Porescu House or house no. 61 on Strada Vasile Lascăr, both in Bucharest. Despite most houses from the reign of Carol I being Beaux-Arts, some have Art Nouveau stoves inside.

One of the most notable Art Nouveau painters from Romania was Ștefan Luchian, who adopted Art Nouveau's innovative and decorative directions for a short period. This period coincided with the founding of the Ileana Society in 1897, of which he was a founding member. The society organized an exhibition at the Union Hotel titled The Exhibition of Independent Artists (1898) and published the Ileana Magazine.

Transylvania has examples of both Art Nouveau and Romanian Revival buildings, mainly from the Austro-Hungarian era. Most can be found in Oradea, nicknamed the "Art Nouveau capital of Romania", but also in Timișoara, Târgu Mureș, and Sibiu.

Stile Liberty in Italy

Art Nouveau in Italy was known as arte nuova, stile floreale, stile moderno, and especially stile Liberty. Liberty style took its name from Arthur Lasenby Liberty and his London store, Liberty department store, which specialized in importing ornaments, textiles, and art objects from Japan and the Far East, whose colorful textiles were popular in Italy. Notable Italian designers included Galileo Chini, whose ceramics were often inspired by majolica patterns. He later became a painter and theatrical scenery designer, creating sets for Puccini's operas Gianni Schicchi and Turandot.

Liberty style architecture varied greatly, often following historical styles, particularly the Baroque. Facades were often richly decorated with sculpture. Examples include the Villino Florio (1899–1902) by Ernesto Basile in Palermo, the Palazzo Castiglioni in Milan by Giuseppe Sommaruga (1901–1903), and the Casa Guazzoni (1904–05) in Milan by Giovanni Battista Bossi (1904–06).

Colorful frescoes, painted or in ceramics, and sculpture were popular features of Liberty style, both inside and outside, drawing on classical and floral themes, as seen in the baths of Acque della Salute and the Casa Guazzoni in Milan.

The most important figure in Liberty style design was Carlo Bugatti, son of an architect and decorator, and father of sculptor Rembrandt Bugatti and automobile designer Ettore Bugatti. He studied at the Milanese Academy of Brera and the Académie des Beaux-Arts in Paris. His work was exotic and eccentric, including silverware, textiles, ceramics, and musical instruments, but he is best remembered for innovative furniture designs shown at the 1888 Milan Fine Arts Fair. His furniture often featured keyhole designs, unusual coverings like parchment and silk, inlays of bone and ivory, and sometimes surprising organic shapes inspired by snails and cobras.

Art Nouveau and Secession in Serbia

Due to proximity to Austria–Hungary and Vojvodina being part of the empire until 1918, both the Vienna Secession and Hungarian Szecesszió were prevalent in northern Serbia and the capital Belgrade. Famous Austrian and Hungarian architects designed many buildings in Subotica, Novi Sad, Palić, Zrenjanin, Vrbas, Senta, and Kikinda. Art Nouveau heritage in Belgrade, Pančevo, Aranđelovac, and Vrnjačka Banja mixes French, German, Austrian, Hungarian, and local Serbian movements. From the curvy floral beauty of Subotica's Synagogue to Morava-style inspired rosettes on Belgrade's telegraph building, Art Nouveau architecture takes various shapes in present-day Serbia.

In the early 1900s, north of the Sava and Danube, resurgent Hungarian national sentiment infused buildings in Subotica and Senta with local floral ethnic motifs, while in the tiny Kingdom of Serbia, national romantics like Branko Tanezević and Dragutin Inkiostiri-Medenjak translated Serbia's traditional motifs into marvelous buildings. Other architects, like Milan Antonović and Nikola Nestorović, brought sinuous lines and natural motifs to homes and businesses of wealthy patrons, showing off their worldliness and keeping up with trends in Paris, Munich, and Vienna.

Modernismo and Modernisme in Spain

Main articles: Modernisme and Valencian Art Nouveau

A highly original variant emerged in Barcelona, Catalonia, around the same time Art Nouveau appeared in Belgium and France. It was called Modernisme in Catalan and Modernismo in Spanish. Its most famous creator was Antoni Gaudí. Gaudí used floral and organic forms in novel ways in Palau Güell (1886–1890). He integrated crafts like ceramics, stained glass, wrought ironwork forging, and carpentry into his architecture. In his Güell Pavilions (1884–1887) and Parc Güell (1900–1914), he used a new technique called trencadís, using waste ceramic pieces. His designs from about 1903, the Casa Batlló (1904–1906) and Casa Milà (1906–1912), are most closely related to Art Nouveau elements. Later structures like Sagrada Família combined Art Nouveau with revivalist Neo-Gothic. Casa Batlló, Casa Milà, Güell Pavilions, and Parc Güell resulted from his collaboration with Josep Maria Jujol, who created houses in Sant Joan Despí (1913–1926), churches near Tarragona (1918 and 1926), and the sinuous Casa Planells (1924) in Barcelona.

Besides Gaudí, Lluís Domènech i Montaner used Art Nouveau in Barcelona in buildings like the Castell dels Tres Dragons (1888), Casa Lleó Morera, Palau de la Música Catalana (1905), and Hospital de Sant Pau (1901–1930). The latter two are UNESCO World Cultural Heritage sites.

Another major modernista was Josep Puig i Cadafalch, who designed the Casa Martí and its Els Quatre Gats café, the Casimir Casaramona textile factory (now the CaixaFòrum art museum), Casa Macaya, Casa Amatller, the Palau del Baró de Quadras (housing Casa Àsia until 2013), and the Casa de les Punxes ('House of Spikes').

A distinctive Art Nouveau movement existed in the Valencian Community. Notable architects included Demetrio Ribes Marco, Vicente Pascual Pastor, Timoteo Briet Montaud, and José María Manuel Cortina Pérez. Valencian Art Nouveau is defined by notable use of ceramics in decoration and regional motifs.

Another remarkable variant is Madrilenian Art Nouveau or Modernismo madrileño, with buildings like the Longoria Palace, the Casino de Madrid, and the Cementerio de la Almudena. Renowned modernistas from Madrid included architects José López Sallaberry, Fernando Arbós y Tremanti, and Francisco Andrés Octavio.

Arte Nova in Portugal

The Art Nouveau variant in Aveiro (Portugal) was called Arte Nova, characterized by ostentation: bourgeoisie expressed wealth on façades while keeping interiors conservative. Another feature was the use of locally produced tiles with Art Nouveau motifs.

The most influential artist of Arte Nova was Francisco Augusto da Silva Rocha. Though not trained as an architect, he designed many buildings in Aveiro and other Portuguese cities. One, the Major Pessoa residence, has both Art Nouveau façade and interior and now hosts the Museum of Arte Nova.

Other examples include the Museum-Residence Dr. Anastácio Gonçalves by Manuel Joaquim Norte Júnior (1904–1905) in Lisbon, Café Majestic by João Queiroz (1921), and Livraria Lello bookstore by Xavier Esteves (1906) in Porto.

Jugendstil in the Nordic countries

Finland

Art Nouveau was popular in the Nordic countries, usually known as Jugendstil, often combined with each country's National Romantic Style. The Nordic country with the most Jugendstil buildings is the Grand Duchy of Finland, then part of the Russian Empire. The Jugendstil period coincided with the Golden Age of Finnish Art and national awakening. After the Paris Exposition in 1900, the leading Finnish artist was Akseli Gallen-Kallela, known for illustrations of the Kalevala, the Finnish national epic, and for painting numerous Jugendstil buildings in the Duchy.

The architects of the Finnish pavilion at the Exposition were Herman Gesellius, Armas Lindgren, and Eliel Saarinen. They worked together from 1896 to 1905, creating notable buildings in Helsinki including the Pohjola Insurance building (1899–1901) and National Museum of Finland (1905–1910), as well as their joint residence Hvitträsk in Kirkkonummi (1902). Inspired by Nordic legends and nature, rough granite façades became symbols of Finnish identity. After the firm dissolved, Saarinen designed the Helsinki Railway Station (1905–1914) in clearer forms, influenced by American architecture. The sculptor working with Saarinen on the National Museum and Helsinki Railway Station was Emil Wikström.

Another architect creating notable works in Finland was Lars Sonck. His major Jugendstil works include Tampere Cathedral (1902–1907), Ainola, home of Jean Sibelius (1903), Helsinki Telephone Association Headquarters (1903–1907), and Kallio Church in Helsinki (1908–1912). Magnus Schjerfbeck, brother of Helene Schjerfbeck, designed the Nummela Sanatorium (1903) in Jugendstil style.

Norway

Norway's local Art Nouveau was connected with a revival inspired by Viking folk art and crafts, reflecting aspirations for independence from Sweden. Notable designers included Lars Kisarvik, who designed chairs with traditional Viking and Celtic patterns, and Gerhard Munthe, who designed a chair with a stylised dragon-head emblem from ancient Viking ships, as well as posters, paintings, and graphics.

The Norwegian town of Ålesund is regarded as the main centre of Art Nouveau in Scandinavia, completely reconstructed after a fire on 23 January 1904. About 350 buildings were built between 1904 and 1907 under an urban plan by engineer Frederik Næsser. The style, known as Ål Stil, features linear decor and echoes of Jugendstil and vernacular elements like stave church towers or crested roofs. One building, Swan Pharmacy, now hosts the Art Nouveau Centre.

Sweden and Denmark

Jugendstil masterpieces in other Nordic countries include Engelbrektskyrkan (1914) and Royal Dramatic Theatre (1901–1908) in Stockholm, Sweden, and the former City Library (now Danish National Business Archives) in Aarhus, Denmark (1898–1901). The architect of the latter is Hack Kampmann, a proponent of National Romantic Style who also created the Custom House, Theatre, and Villa Kampen in Aarhus. Denmark's most notable Art Nouveau designer was silversmith Georg Jensen. The Baltic Exhibition in Malmö 1914 marked the last major Jugendstil manifestation in Sweden.

Modern in Russia

Модерн ('Modern') was a colorful Russian variation of Art Nouveau that appeared in Moscow and Saint Petersburg in 1898 with the publication of the art journal Мир искусства (Mir Iskusstva, 'The World of Art') by Russian artists Alexandre Benois and Léon Bakst, and chief editor Sergei Diaghilev. The magazine organized exhibitions of leading Russian artists, including Mikhail Vrubel, Konstantin Somov, Isaac Levitan, and book illustrator Ivan Bilibin. The World of Art style used less of the vegetal forms of French Art Nouveau, drawing instead on bright colors and exotic designs from Russian folklore and fairy tales. The most influential contribution was the creation of the new ballet company, the Ballets Russes, headed by Diaghilev, with costumes and sets designed by Bakst and Benois. The company premiered in Paris in 1909 and performed there annually until 1913. The exotic and colorful sets by Benois and Bakst had a major impact on French art and design, reproduced in leading Paris magazines and leading to the Russian style being known in Paris as à la Bakst. The company was stranded in Paris by World War I and the Russian Revolution in 1917, never performing in Russia.

The most prominent Russian architect in pure Art Nouveau style was Fyodor Schechtel. The most famous example is the Ryabushinsky House in Moscow, built by a Russian businessman and newspaper owner. After the Russian Revolution, it became the residence of writer Maxim Gorky and is now the Gorky Museum. Its main staircase, made of polished aggregate of concrete, marble, and granite, has flowing, curling lines like ocean waves and is illuminated by a lamp shaped like a floating jellyfish. The interior features colorful frescoes and mosaics on doors, windows, and ceilings. Schechtel, also a major figure in Russian symbolism, designed several other landmark buildings in Moscow, including the rebuilding of the Moscow Yaroslavsky railway station in a more traditional Moscow revival style.

Ukrainian Modern architecture

Early 20th-century architecture in Ukrainian lands developed under the influence of Ukrainian folk architecture and European Art Nouveau trends like Zakopane Style. Ukrainian "modern" architecture first gained prominence in Poltava Governorate, promoted by Vasyl Krychevskyi and Opanas Slastion. In the late 1900s and early 1910s, buildings in a "Ukrainian style" were constructed in Kyiv, Kharkiv, Odesa, Katerynoslav, and other places in the Russian Empire. In Western Ukraine, then part of Austria-Hungary, the local Ukrainian style was influenced by Hutsul architecture and Western European trends.

Jūgendstils (Art Nouveau in Riga)

Riga, now Latvia's capital, was a major city in the Russian Empire but developed Art Nouveau architecture independently. After the Latvian Ethnographic Exhibition in 1896 and the Industrial and Handicrafts Exhibition in 1901, Art Nouveau became dominant in the city. One-third of buildings in Riga's center are Art Nouveau, the highest concentration anywhere in the world. The quantity and quality of Art Nouveau architecture were criteria for including Riga in UNESCO World Cultural Heritage.

Riga had different variations of Art Nouveau:

Eclectic Art Nouveau featured popular floral and nature-inspired decorations, seen in works by Mikhail Eisenstein
Perpendicular Art Nouveau integrated geometric ornaments into vertical façade compositions, sometimes called "department store style" or Warenhausstil
National Romantic Art Nouveau was inspired by local folk art, monumental volumes, and natural building materials

Some later Neo-Classical buildings also contained Art Nouveau details.

Style Sapin in La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland

A variation called Style Sapin ('Fir-tree Style') emerged in La Chaux-de-Fonds in the Canton of Neuchâtel, Switzerland. Launched by painter and artist Charles l’Eplattenier, it was inspired by the sapin ('fir tree') and other plants and wildlife of the Jura Mountains. The crematorium in the town featured triangular tree forms, pine cones, and other natural themes. The style blended geometric elements of Jugendstil and Vienna Secession.

Notable buildings include the Villa Fallet in La Chaux-de-Fonds, designed by Le Corbusier in 1905. Though a traditional Swiss chalet, its façade decoration included triangular trees and natural features.

Tiffany Style and Louis Sullivan in the United States

In the United States, Louis Comfort Tiffany played a central role in American Art Nouveau. He studied at the National Academy of Design in New York City, began working with glass at 24, and in 1885 set up his own enterprise devoted to fine glass. He developed new techniques for coloring glass and began making glass vases, bowls, and experimenting with decorative window glass. Layers of glass were printed, marbled, and superimposed, giving exceptional richness and variety of color. His new works were featured in the Art Nouveau gallery of Siegfried Bing in 1895, gaining a European clientele. After his father's death in 1902, he took over the entire Tiffany enterprise but continued devoting time to glass art. At Thomas Edison's urging, he began manufacturing electric lamps with multicolored glass shades in bronze and iron structures or decorated with mosaics, produced in numerous series and editions. The Tiffany lamp became an icon of Art Nouveau, but Tiffany's craftsmen also designed windows, vases, and other glass art. Tiffany's glass succeeded at the 1900 Exposition Universelle in Paris; his stained glass window Flight of Souls won a gold medal. The Columbian Exposition was an important venue for Tiffany; he designed a chapel shown at the Pavilion of Art and Industry. The Tiffany Chapel and one of the windows from his New York home are now displayed at the Charles Hosmer Morse Museum of American Art in Winter Park, Florida.

Another important figure was architect Louis Sullivan, a pioneer of American modern architecture and founder of the Chicago School. He was the teacher of Frank Lloyd Wright and architect of some of the first skyscrapers. His famous saying was "Form follows function." While the form of his buildings was shaped by their function, his decoration exemplified American Art Nouveau. At the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago, he designed a spectacular Art Nouveau entrance for the Transportation Building, despite the exposition's neoclassical architecture. The architecture of his Carson, Pirie, Scott and Company Building (1899) was modern and functional, but he surrounded windows with stylized floral decoration. He created original decoration for the National Farmer's Bank of Owatonna, Minnesota (1907–1908) and the Merchants' National Bank in Grinell, Iowa, declaring that decorative forms should oscillate, surge, mix, and derive endlessly. He produced works of great precision that sometimes combined Gothic with Art Nouveau themes.

Also notable were the Uhl brothers from Toledo, Ohio, who set new standards in metal furniture production with their designs for the Toledo Metal Furniture Co.

Art Nouveau in Argentina

Flooded with European immigrants, Argentina welcomed all artistic and architectural European styles, including Art Nouveau. Flexible construction rules and huge investments encouraged young architects from Europe to come and grow their portfolios before returning. Argentina became the country outside Europe with the most Art Nouveau buildings. Cities with notable Art Nouveau heritage include Buenos Aires, Rosario, and Mar del Plata.

Paris was a prototype for Buenos Aires with large boulevards and avenues built in the 19th century. Local style followed Italian Liberty as many architects (Virginio Colombo, Francisco Gianotti, Mario Palanti) were Italian. Works by Julián García Núñez showed Catalan influence, having studied in Barcelona in 1900. The influence of Vienna Secession can be seen in buildings like Paso y Viamonte, Club Español, Regimiento de Granaderos a Caballo, and the Savoy hotel.

Some local features include adaptation to the "chorizo house" format—narrow façades with deep interiors and multiple patios for light—and characteristic "cut corners" on every block required by Buenos Aires law since the late 1800s. Material availability differed from Europe; buildings were often covered in "simil piedra París," a cement-and-sand mixture imitating Parisian stone.

The introduction of Art Nouveau in Rosario is linked to Francisco Roca Simó, trained in Barcelona. His Club Español building (1912) features one of Latin America's largest stained glass windows, produced by local firm Buxadera, Fornells y Cía. The building's sculptor was Diego Masana from Barcelona.

Belgian influence is represented by the Villa Ortiz Basualdo, now hosting the Juan Carlos Castagnino Municipal Museum of Art in Mar del Plata, where furniture, interiors, and lighting are by Gustave Serrurier-Bovy.

Art Nouveau in the rest of the world

As in Argentina, Art Nouveau in other countries was mostly influenced by foreign artists:

Spaniards were behind Art Nouveau projects in Havana, Cuba, though they were not qualified enough to be called architects. Spaniards were not directly involved in works in Ponce, Puerto Rico but inspired local architects developing styles like Ponce Creole
French were behind Art Nouveau in Tunisia, then a French protectorate
Germans were behind Jugendstil heritage in Lüderitz, Namibia; Qingdao, China
Italians were behind Art Nouveau in Valparaíso, Chile; Montevideo, Uruguay; Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Russians were behind Art Nouveau heritage in Harbin, China
Art Nouveau Heritage in Lima consists of work by Italian Masperi brothers, French architect Claude Sahut, and British masters of stained glass
Palacio de Bellas Artes in Mexico City resulted from cooperation of Italians (architect Adamo Boari and sculptor Leonardo Bistolfi), local architect Federico Mariscal, Hungarian artists Aladár Körösfői-Kriesch, Géza Maróti, and Miksa Róth, Catalan sculptor Agustí Querol Subirats, and French master Edgar Brandt

Art Nouveau motifs can also be found in French Colonial architecture throughout French Indochina.

A notable art movement called Bezalel school appeared in the Palestine region during the late Ottoman and British Mandate periods. Described as "a fusion of oriental art and Jugendstil," several artists associated with the Bezalel school were noted for their Art Nouveau style, including Ze'ev Raban, Ephraim Moses Lilien, and Abel Pann.

Characteristics, decoration and motifs

Art Nouveau was known for its beautiful designs inspired by nature. Artists used shapes from plants and flowers to create curved and flowing lines in their work. These lines often moved in smooth, flowing ways.

The style used modern materials such as iron, glass, and ceramics to build unusual shapes and open spaces. Furniture and buildings had light, airy designs with many windows and open areas. Flowers, butterflies, and other natural elements were common themes in paintings, lamps, and decorations. Artists wanted everything to fit together beautifully, from wallpaper to light fixtures, creating a look that felt like nature.

Relationship with contemporary styles and movements

Art Nouveau shared ideas with styles like the Pre-Raphaelites and Symbolists. Artists such as Aubrey Beardsley, Alphonse Mucha, Edward Burne-Jones, Gustav Klimt, and Jan Toorop often worked in more than one style.

Art Nouveau used new materials and machines, like glass, iron, and ceramics. It also used new building technologies, like exposed iron and large pieces of glass. In some places, Art Nouveau mixed with local styles. In Denmark, it was part of Skønvirke, which was closer to the Arts and Crafts style. In Poland, it influenced the Młoda Polska style.

Art Nouveau is related to Expressionist architecture, which liked natural shapes but did not like Art Nouveau's decorations. Another style, Art Deco, started as a reaction to Art Nouveau. Art Deco used straight lines instead of curvy shapes.

Genres

Art Nouveau appeared in many forms of art, but it was most famous in architecture and decorative arts. It also worked well for graphic arts, like posters, interior design, metal and glass art, jewellery, furniture design, ceramics and textiles.

Posters and graphic art

The graphic arts grew during the Art Nouveau period because of new printing technologies, especially colour lithography. This allowed colour posters to be made for mass production. Art was no longer just in galleries or museums; it could be seen on walls in Paris and in art magazines across Europe and the United States. Women were a popular theme in Art Nouveau posters, often shown with flowers around them.

In Britain, Aubrey Beardsley was a leading graphic artist in the Art Nouveau style. He started with book illustrations and later created illustrations and posters for magazines. The Swiss-French artist Eugène Grasset was one of the first to create French Art Nouveau posters. He decorated cabarets and made posters for events in Paris. Artists like Jules Chéret, Georges de Feure and Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec also made posters for Paris theaters, cafés, and dance halls. The Czech artist Alphonse Mucha arrived in Paris and made famous posters for actress Sarah Bernhardt, which led to more work for various products.

In Vienna, Koloman Moser was a key designer of graphics and posters. He worked with other artists and created illustrations and covers for their magazine, as well as paintings, furniture and decoration.

Painting

Painting was also part of Art Nouveau, though many painters linked to it were also part of other movements like Post-Impressionism and symbolism. Alphonse Mucha was known for his Art Nouveau posters, but he also worked as a history painter.

The painters most tied to Art Nouveau were the Les Nabis, post-impressionist artists in Paris from 1888 to 1900. They wanted to break down the barrier between fine arts and decorative arts. They painted canvases, decorative screens and panels, many influenced by Japanese prints. Members included Pierre Bonnard, Maurice Denis, Paul Ranson, Édouard Vuillard, Ker-Xavier Roussel, Félix Vallotton, and Paul Sérusier.

The Austrian painter Gustav Klimt was a representative of Art Nouveau painting. Klimt painted in an ornate style.

Painters in Catalonia, connected with artists in Paris, met at a local tavern. Pablo Picasso came from this group.

In Belgium, Fernand Khnopff worked in painting and graphic design.

One subject appeared in both traditional painting and Art Nouveau: the American dancer Loie Fuller, portrayed by French and Austrian painters and poster artists.

A popular style in Brussels was sgraffito, a technique using layers of tinted plaster to make murals on house façades.

Glass art

Glass art was a strong medium for Art Nouveau, with much experimentation in France to find new effects of transparency and opacity. The city of Nancy became a centre for French glass, home to the workshops of Émile Gallé and the Daum studio. They worked with designers and often collaborated with furniture designer Louis Majorelle. Another feature was stained glass windows with floral themes in Art Nouveau houses in Nancy, many made by Jacques Grüber.

In Belgium, the leading firm was the glass factory of Val Saint Lambert, creating vases in organic and floral forms, often designed by Philippe Wolfers. In Bohemia, then part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, companies like J. & L. Lobmeyr and Joh. Loetz Witwe tried new colouring techniques for richer colours. In Germany, Karl Köpping used blown glass to make very delicate flower-shaped glasses.

In Vienna, glass designs of the Secession movement were more geometrical. In Britain, floral stained glass designs were created by Margaret Macdonald Mackintosh for The House of an Art Lover.

In the United States, Louis Comfort Tiffany and his designers became famous for their lamps with glass shades of intricate floral designs. Tiffany lamps became popular after the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1893. Tiffany patented a process to colour glass, giving it an iridescent effect. His workshops made lamps, stained glass windows, screens, vases and decorative objects. His works were imported to Germany and France and became a sensation at the 1900 Exposition. Another notable American glass artist was John La Farge, who created colourful stained glass windows.

Metal art

The 19th-century architect Viollet-le-Duc suggested showing iron frameworks of modern buildings instead of hiding them. Art Nouveau architects Victor Horta and Hector Guimard went further, adding iron decoration in floral and plant-inspired curves in interiors and exteriors.

In the United States, designer George Grant Elmslie made intricate cast iron designs for buildings by Chicago architect Louis Sullivan.

While French and American designers used floral and plant forms, Joseph Maria Olbrich and other Secession artists designed teapots and metal objects in a more geometric style.

Jewellery

Art Nouveau jewellery had subtle curves and lines, often featuring natural objects like flowers, animals or birds. It included long necklaces of pearls or silver chains with glass beads or gold pendants, often holding a single coloured gem like amethyst, peridot, or citrine.

Art Nouveau jewellery used detailed, symbolic motifs connected to nature and mythology. Common motifs included dragonflies, peacocks, plants, flowers, insects like butterflies and scarabs.

The Art Nouveau period brought a new style to jewellery, led by major firms in Paris. For two centuries, jewellery had focused on settings for diamonds, but Art Nouveau used a variety of stones like agate, garnet, opal, moonstone, aquamarine and others.

Early notable Paris jewellers in the Art Nouveau style included Louis Aucoc. The most famous designer was René Lalique, who became central to Art Nouveau jewellery and glass, using nature as his models. Other designers like Paul Follot also experimented with jewellery. In the United States, Louis Comfort Tiffany showed his work in Paris and at the 1900 Exposition.

In Britain, Archibald Knox designed Art Nouveau pieces for Liberty & Co. In Germany, Pforzheim was the centre for Jugendstil jewellery.

Architecture and ornamentation

Art Nouveau architecture reacted against eclectic styles of the 19th century. It used decoration based on flowers and plants, either ornamental or sculptural. Faces of people were referred to as ornament, but people in sculptures were also common. Before the Vienna Secession, Jugendstil and National romantic style façades were asymmetrical, decorated with polychrome ceramic tiles. The decoration suggested movement, with no distinction between structure and ornament. A curling or "whiplash" motif based on plants and flowers was common early on.

The style first appeared in Brussels' Hankar House by Paul Hankar and Hôtel Tassel by Victor Horta. The Hôtel Tassel was visited by Hector Guimard, who used the same style in his first major work, the Castel Béranger. Horta and Guimard also designed furniture and interior decoration. In 1899, Guimard designed the entrances of the new Paris Métro stations, which opened in 1900.

In Paris, Art Nouveau was a reaction to strict building regulations. Bow windows were allowed in 1903, and Art Nouveau architects went to the opposite extreme, as in the houses of Jules Lavirotte, covered in decoration. An important area of Art Nouveau houses appeared in Nancy around the Villa Majorelle, designed by Henri Sauvage as a showcase for Louis Majorelle's furniture.

Many Art Nouveau buildings were listed as UNESCO World Cultural Heritage, including works by Victor Horta and Josef Hoffmann in Brussels, and works by Lluís Domènech i Montaner and Antoni Gaudí in Barcelona.

Sculpture

Sculpture was another form of Art Nouveau, sometimes crossing with ceramics. The porcelain figurine Dancer with a Scarf by Agathon Léonard was recognized in both ceramics and sculpture at the Paris Exposition in 1900. Sculptors from other countries also created ceramic sculptures. In architectural sculpture, artists used animal motifs like butterflies, peacocks, swans, owls, bats, dragons, and bears. Atlantes, caryatids, putti, and gargoyles were also used.

Furniture

Furniture design in Art Nouveau was closely tied to architecture; architects often designed furniture, carpets, light fixtures, doorknobs, and other details. The furniture was complex and expensive, with fine finishes like polished or varnished wood. Continental designs were very complex with curving shapes, which made them costly.

In France, Nancy was the centre for furniture design, with studios by Émile Gallé and Louis Majorelle. Both based their designs on natural forms like flowers and insects. Gallé was known for marquetry in relief, while Majorelle used exotic woods and bronze sculpted in plant themes.

Other French designers included Henri Bellery-Desfontaines, inspired by neo-Gothic styles, and Georges de Feure, Eugène Gaillard, and Édouard Colonna, who worked with art dealer Siegfried Bing. Their furniture was known for "abstract naturalism" with a mix of straight and curved lines and rococo influence.

In Belgium, Victor Horta and Henry van de Velde designed furniture for their houses with vigorous curves and little decoration.

In the Netherlands, designers followed the English Arts and Crafts movement with more geometric forms.

In Britain, Charles Rennie Mackintosh designed austere, geometrical furniture with long straight lines and right angles.

In Germany, furniture was rationalist with geometric lines and simple materials for mass production. The same was true for the Wiener Werkstätte in Vienna, led by Otto Wagner, Josef Hoffmann, Josef Maria Olbrich and Koloman Moser. Their furniture was geometric with little decoration.

In Italy, Carlo Bugatti designed the Snail Chair. In Spain, Gaspar Homar designed furniture inspired by natural forms with Catalan historic touches.

In the United States, furniture was often inspired by the Arts and Crafts movement or historic American models. Charles Rohlfs in Buffalo, N.Y. introduced Art Nouveau themes with motifs from Celtic and Gothic art.

Ceramics

Ceramic art, including faience, was important for Art Nouveau. The late 19th century brought innovations in ceramic manufacturing, like high-temperature ceramics with crystallised and matte glazes. Artists rediscovered techniques like sang de boeuf glaze. Art Nouveau ceramics were also influenced by Japanese and Chinese ceramics with plant and flower motifs.

Émile Gallé in Nancy created earthenware with natural earth colours and themes of plants and insects. Ceramics were also used to decorate building façades, as done by architects Jules Lavirotte and Hector Guimard with ceramics from Alexandre Bigot.

One pioneer French Art Nouveau ceramist was Ernest Chaplet, who worked with painters and sculptors. His works were shown at the 1900 Exposition.

Major national ceramics firms like the Manufacture nationale de Sèvres, Nymphenburg, Meissen, Villeroy & Boch and Doulton were important at the 1900 Paris Exposition.

In France, Art Nouveau ceramics sometimes looked like sculpture. The porcelain figurine Dancer with a Scarf by Agathon Léonard won recognition in both categories at the 1900 Paris Exposition.

The Zsolnay factory in Pécs, Hungary, led by Vilmos Zsolnay, produced stoneware and other ceramics. Zsolnay introduced porcelain pieces made of eosin and gained recognition at world fairs.

Ceramic tiles were also a feature of Portuguese Arte Nova, continuing the country's azulejo tradition.

Mosaics

Mosaics were used by many Art Nouveau artists, especially in Catalan Modernisme. Antoni Gaudí invented trencadís, using waste ceramic pieces.

Colourful Maiolica tile was a feature of the Majolica House in Vienna by Otto Wagner and buildings in the Abramtsevo Colony in Russia.

Textiles and wallpaper

Textiles and wallpapers were important in Art Nouveau from the start, essential to Art Nouveau interior design. In Britain, textile designs by William Morris helped launch the Arts and Crafts movement and then Art Nouveau. Many designs were created for the Liberty department store in London. The Silver Studio provided colourful floral patterns. The Glasgow School and Margaret Macdonald Mackintosh also contributed.

In France, Eugène Grasset published La Plante et ses applications ornamentales in 1896, suggesting Art Nouveau designs based on flowers and plants. Patterns were designed for major French textile manufacturers in Mulhouse, Lille and Lyon, as well as German and Belgian workshops. Hermann Obrist specialized in floral patterns, particularly the cyclamen and the "whiplash" style. The Belgian Henry van de Velde presented textile work inspired by Paul Gauguin and the Nabis. In the Netherlands, textiles were inspired by batik patterns from the Dutch colonies in the East Indies. Folk art inspired tapestries, carpets, embroidery and textiles in Central Europe and Scandinavia, like the work of Gerhard Munthe and Frida Hansen in Norway. The Five Swans design of Otto Eckmann appeared in over a hundred versions. The Hungarian designer János Vaszary combined Art Nouveau with folkloric themes.

Museums

Art Nouveau has many places where you can see its beautiful designs. There are four main types of museums that show Art Nouveau style. Some big museums have many items from this style, even if they are not only about Art Nouveau. Other museums are inside homes of famous Art Nouveau artists. There are also museums that focus on local Art Nouveau movements, and some special buildings that have become museums.

Besides these, many other buildings like old train stations, churches, cafes, and even homes are open for people to visit and see the wonderful Art Nouveau designs.

Country	Broad-scope museums	House-museums of Art Nouveau artists	Museums dedicated to local Art Nouveau movements	Other Art Nouveau buildings with museum status or featuring a museum inside
Austria	Museum of Applied Arts in Vienna		Secession Building in Vienna	Wagner Pavilions at Karlsplatz and Hietzing in Vienna
Argentina				Juan Carlos Castagnino Municipal Museum of Art in Mar del Plata
Belgium	Fin-de-Siècle Museum in Brussels, Gilliot & Roelants Tile Museum in Hemiksem	Maison and Atelier Horta and Cauchie House in Brussels		Belgian Comic Strip Center, Musical Instrument Museum and Autrique House in
Chile				Palacio Baburizza in Valparaiso
Czech Republic	East Bohemian Museum in Hradec Králové	Alphonse Mucha Museum in Prague		Museum of Modern Art in Olomouc
Denmark	Museum Sønderjylland in Skærbæk
France	Musée d'Orsay, Museum of Decorative Arts, Carnavalet Museum, Petit Palais in Paris; Musée historique in Haguenau; Musée d'art moderne et contemporain in Strasbourg, Museum of Fine Arts of Nancy	Villa Majorelle in Nancy; Musée Lalique in Wingen-sur-Moder	Museum of the Nancy School in Nancy	Maxim's Art Nouveau "Collection 1900" above Maxim's restaurant in Paris (groups of twenty or more persons only)
Finland	Ateneum and Finnish National Museum in Helsinki, Turku Art Museum in Turku	Hvitträsk (house of Herman Gesellius, Armas Lindgren, and Eliel Saarinen) in Kirkkonummi and Gallen-Kallela Museum in Espoo
Germany	Bröhan Museum in Berlin, Museum in der Majolika in Karlsruhe, Landesmuseum in Mainz, Museum Wiesbaden in Wiesbaden		Darmstadt Colony Museum in Darmstadt	Osthaus Museum in Hagen
Hungary	Museum of Applied Arts and its branch Villa György Ráth in Budapest, Town museum in Gödöllő	Miksa Róth House museum in Budapest	House of Hungarian Szecesszió in Budapest	Geological Museum in Budapest
Italy	Municipal museum in Casale Monferrato			Villa Bernasconi in Cernobbio
Latvia			Riga Art Nouveau Museum in Riga
Mexico				Museo del Objeto del Objeto in Mexico City
Norway			Jugendstil Centre in Ålesund	Norwegian Museum of Contemporary Art in Oslo
Portugal			Museum of Arte Nova in Aveiro	Museum-Residence of Dr. Anastácio Gonçalves in Lisbon
Romania	Székely National Museum in Sfântu Gheorghe, Pelișor Castle in Sinaia			Darvas-La Roche house in Oradea
Russia	Abramtsevo Colony in Moscow Oblast; All-Russian Decorative Art Museum and Gorky Museum in Moscow; State Russian Museum, Museum of Political History of Russia in Saint Petersburg	Fyodor Livchak House Museum in Ulyanovsk	Museum of Talashkino Art Colony in Flenovo, Smolensk Oblast (in Russian only)	Museum of Silver Age of Russian literature in Moscow, Museum of Modern in Samara, Estate of Aseevs in Tambov; Municipal Museum in Primorsk and Estate-museum of Scherbov in Gatchina (both Leningrad Oblast), Taganrog Museum of Architecture and Urbanism in Taganrog, Museum of Belle Epoque Architecture in Ulyanovsk
Serbia	Museum of Applied Art in Belgrade			Jovan Cvijić's House in Belgrade, Uros Predic's Studio in Belgrade, Synagogue in Novi Sad, Synagogue in Subotica, Raichle Palace in Subotica
Spain	National Art Museum of Catalonia in Barcelona, CaixaFòrum in Madrid, Museo Art Nouveau and Art Déco in Salamanca, Museu Agbar de les Aigües in Cornellà de Llobregat	Gaudí House Museum in Barcelona, Lluís Domènech i Montaner House-Museum in Canet de Mar	Museum of Catalan Modernisme in Barcelona, Art Nouveau House-Museum in Novelda	Sagrada Família, Hospital de Sant Pau, Casa Vicens in Barcelona
Sweden				Biological museum in Stockholm, Röhsska Museum in Gothenburg
Switzerland	Musée des Beaux-Arts in La Chaux-de-Fonds
UK	Victoria and Albert Museum in London; Kelvingrove Museum in Glasgow, Haworth Art Gallery in Accrington	Mackintosh House in Hunterian Museum and Art Gallery in Glasgow		Horniman Museum in London
Ukraine				Art Museum in Chernivtsi, Museum of Local Lore in Poltava
USA	Charles Hosmer Morse Museum of American Art in Winter Park, Florida, Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, Getty Center in Los Angeles; Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum in New York City, Art Institute of Chicago in Chicago

Posterity

After 1911, Art Nouveau began to fade away. For many years, important historians did not study it much. It wasn’t until the late 1950s that serious books about Art Nouveau were written.

Art Nouveau helped create a later style called Art Deco. Art Nouveau used new, curvy designs inspired by plants. These designs broke old rules and made fresh, modern looks. Many Art Deco buildings have similar flowing lines and shapes, though often simpler. Art Nouveau’s focus on beautiful home decorations also influenced Art Deco.

In the 1960s and 1970s, people started liking Art Nouveau again, especially for psychedelic rock posters and new design styles. Artists loved its flowing shapes and nature themes. Today, Art Nouveau art, like works by Gustav Klimt, appears on many modern items.