With its flowery, ephemeral forms, liberal use of gold leaf and abstract figures, it’s easy to mix up the Vienna Secession movement with Art Nouveau.  True, they are similar and each movement drew inspiration from the other.  Still, the Viennese movement was distinct and included painting, architecture, furniture, pottery, jewelry and glasswork.  The Secessionists thought that art was in everything and that everything could be art. 

More than anything else, Secessionist artists were interested in creating art outside of the academy. The Vienna Künstlerhaus, the conservative artist house in Vienna with its focus on historicism, or recreating the past, was too restrictive for the artists of the Secession. They didn’t want anything to do with the past.  Still, this also means that there are not characteristics easily decipherable in the movement like there may be in other art movements. Secessionists included Symbolists, Naturalists, Modernists and Stylists.

The Secessionists built some of the most iconic buildings in Vienna.  Their exhibition house, called The Secession Building, is a square, white building with a large gold-foiled ball of leaves on its rooftop.  The Secession building was where these artists held their exhibits.

In addition, the Secessionists printed a magazine called Ver Sacrum, in which they printed art they created, as well as poety.

The Secessionists were arguably created by Otto Wagner, an Austrian architect, who created many of the Secessionist buildings in Vienna, which feature white buildings with green and gold accoutrements, often called whiplash or eel style. Other Secessionist artists include Max Klinger, Josef Maria Olbrich, Koloman Moser and the most famous by far, Gustav Klimt. 

Klimt attended the Vienna School of Arts and Crafts from 1876 to 1883 and then worked on decorative paintings and building designs.  He was the chairman of the Secession until his resignation in 1905. His most famous work, “Der Kuss” (“The Kiss”) is representative of many of his later works, which use powerful colors, a lot of gold, ornaments, eroticism and symbolism.  “Der Kuss” is housed at the Belvedere museum in Vienna.

Another famous painting by Klimt is the Beethoven Frieze housed in the Secessionist building today.  Painted to be temporarily displayed along with a polychrome sculpture of Beethoven by Max Klinger, Klimt painted the huge mural for the 14^th Secessionist exhibit in 1902. The frieze was dismantled a year later and preserved, but it did not go on display again until 1986. The frieze is highly symbolic and features many emotions painted in human form.  For example, a knight in armor represents “Armored Strength” and a woman representing “sympathy” is painted with a lowered head and clasped hands.

In 1905, many prominent artists, along with Klimt, left the movement due to a conflict between the more conservative Naturalists and the Stylists.  Realistic Naturalists did not commit themselves to the “total work of art,” the way that the Stylists thought Secessionists should.  These artists called the “Klimt Group” housed their own exhibit in 1908.

The Secessionist movement is still highly regarded by the Viennese and their influence is still seen everywhere in Vienna in buildings, art museums, jewelry and decorative arts.