Overview

In the 1890s, artists were bored with copying the past (Neo-Gothic, Neo-Classical). They wanted a style for the modern age. But instead of looking to machines (like the Futurists would later), they looked to Nature. Not the realistic nature of the Romantics, but the abstract, flowing lines of vines, flower stems, and insect wings. They wanted to turn the whole world into a garden.

Core Idea

The core idea is The Whiplash Line. A dynamic, undulating curve that looks like a snapping whip or a growing vine. It represents vitality and growth. Art Nouveau rejected the straight line (which they saw as dead and mechanical) in favor of the organic curve.

Formal Definition

An ornamental style of art that flourished between about 1890 and 1910 throughout Europe and the United States. It is characterized by its use of a long, sinuous, organic line and was employed most often in architecture, interior design, jewelry and glass design, posters, and illustration.

Intuition

Look at a Paris Metro station entrance (designed by Hector Guimard). The green metal looks like melting stalks of alien plants. It doesn’t look “built”; it looks “grown.” That is Art Nouveau. It tries to make iron and glass feel alive.

Examples

  • Gustav Klimt, The Kiss (1908): The masterpiece of the Vienna Secession (the Austrian version). A couple wrapped in gold robes decorated with geometric and organic patterns. It is erotic, decorative, and flat.
  • Antoni Gaudí: The architect of Barcelona. His Sagrada Família church looks like a dripping sandcastle or a forest of stone trees. There are no straight lines in nature, so there are no straight lines in his buildings.
  • Tiffany Lamps: Louis Comfort Tiffany used stained glass to create lamps that looked like wisteria vines or dragonflies.

Common Misconceptions

  • It’s just pretty decoration: It was a social movement. They wanted to break down the hierarchy between “High Art” (painting) and “Craft” (furniture). A spoon should be as artistic as a statue.
  • It’s Art Deco: People confuse them. Art Nouveau (1890-1910) is curvy and organic (plants). Art Deco (1920-1940) is geometric and streamlined (machines).
  • Japonisme: The influence of Japanese woodblock prints (flat colors, asymmetry, nature themes) was huge on Art Nouveau.
  • Femme Fatale: The style often featured mysterious, seductive women with long, flowing hair that blended into the decorative background (e.g., Alphonse Mucha’s posters).
  • Gesamtkunstwerk: Like the Baroque and Bauhaus, they aimed for a total environment where the wallpaper matched the furniture matched the dress.

Applications

  • Graphic Design: The psychedelic posters of the 1960s (Fillmore West) revived the Art Nouveau style because its trippy, flowing lines fit the drug culture perfectly.
  • Jewelry: René Lalique made jewelry using glass and enamel that looked like insects and dying flowers, valuing the design over the cost of the diamonds.

Criticism / Limitations

  • Cost: It was supposed to be “art for everyone,” but the hand-crafted, complex curves were incredibly expensive to make. It became a luxury style for the rich.
  • Over-decoration: It died out quickly because people got sick of the visual clutter. The clean lines of Modernism (Bauhaus) wiped it out.

Further Reading

  • Greenhalgh, Paul. Art Nouveau: 1890-1914. 2000.
  • Schmutzler, Robert. Art Nouveau. 1962.
  • Masini, Lara-Vinca. Art Nouveau. 1984.