Art Nouveau Art

Art Nouveau emerged in the 1890s as Europe's first attempt at a completely new decorative style — one that rejected historical revivalism in favor of organic forms drawn from nature. Victor Horta's Hôtel Tassel in Brussels (1893), with its iron tendrils curving through stairways like living vines, is generally considered the movement's architectural birth. In Paris, Hector Guimard's sinuous Métro entrances (1900) became the style's most visible public expression.

The commercial breakthrough came through poster art. Alphonse Mucha's 1894 poster for Sarah Bernhardt in Gismonda — created as a rush job on New Year's Eve — launched "le style Mucha" and made decorative posters a collectible art form overnight. Gustav Klimt in Vienna fused Art Nouveau's organic lines with Byzantine gold in paintings like The Kiss (1907–08). In Barcelona, Antoni Gaudí pushed the style to its most extreme architectural expression in the Sagrada Família (begun 1882, still under construction).

Art Nouveau burned bright but brief. By 1910, its ornate curves were already giving way to the geometric severity that would become Art Deco. But its core principle — that everyday objects and buildings should be beautiful — anticipated the modern design movement and continues to influence typography, packaging, and decorative arts worldwide.