The Art Nouveau Era

Art Nouveau was an artistic style popular from the 1880s to the First World War, and it sought to infuse all parts of life with art.

 Nothing was deemed “too mundane” for this breakthrough style, and Art Nouveau found its way onto silverware, lamps, architecture, and furniture as well as onto more traditional objects like a canvas or a wall. These artists – who were trying to break away from previous artistic styles – took their inspiration from the more disorderly and wild parts of the natural world.

 The “whiplash” curves that famously appear and reappear in Art Nouveau stemmed largely from scientific studies of plant life and deep-sea organisms. Art that was created for its own sake, rather than religious study or storytelling, was also heavily featured in Art Nouveau.

This style did not last very long, but its influence was and remains far-reaching and can be seen many places today.