Vienna Secession

The formation of the Vienna Secession in 1897 marked, quite accurately, the formal beginning of modern art in Austria - a nation at the time noted for its attachment to a highly conservative tradition. It was the coalescence of the first movement of artists and designers who were committed to a forward-thinking, internationalist view of the art world, all-encompassing in its embrace and integration of genres and fields. Led at the beginning by Gustav Klimt, the Secessionists gave contemporary art its first dedicated venue in the city. This not only introduced the Austrian capital to their work, but that of contemporary and historical art movements on a global scale. The Secessionists’ work provides in large part the visual representations of the new intellectual and cultural flowering of Vienna around 1900, in fields as diverse as medicine, music, and philosophy. (The Art Story)