1. Art Nouveau

2. Art Nouveau appeared in France around the early 1890s. The man responsible of introducing the Art Nouveau style in architecture and decorative arts was a Belgian, Victor Horta. The staircase in the Van Eetvelde House is a perfect example of the Art Nouveau style. Art Nouveau is can be most easily recognized through its curving lines and emphasis on the decorative. Art Nouveau appears in architecture, decorative art like furniture, jewelry, posters, and even in metro stations.

3. Art Nouveau Stokstad writes that Art Nouveau rejected the values of modern industrial society and sought new aesthetic forms that would retain a preindustrial sense of beauty. Art Nouveau drew inspiration from nature: from the shapes of snakes, flowers, vines, and winged insects, whose forms were the basis of attenuated linear forms. According to Gardner, Art Nouveau emerged at the end of the nineteenth century and adapted the twinning plant form to the needs of architecture, sculpture, painting, and all decorative arts. Art Nouveau borrowed pattern styles of Van Gogh, Gauguin, and their Post-Impressionists and Symbolist contemporaries.

4. Victor Horta Stairway, Tassel House, Brussels 1892-93

5. Victor Horta Brussels 1892-93

6. Antonio Gaudi Guell Park benches Barcelona, Spain 1900-1914

7. Antonio Gaudi Casa Mila Barcelona, Spain 1907

8. Hector Guimard metro entrances Paris, France 1900

9. Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec Avril poster 1893

10. Gustave Klimt Poster for the First Secession Exhibition 1898

11. Gustave Klimt The Three Ages of Woman 1905

12. Gustave Klimt The Kiss 1907-1908