The Secession Building (german: Secessionsgebäude) is an exhibition hall in

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

. It was completed in 1898 by Joseph Maria Olbrich as an architectural manifesto for the

Vienna Secession The Vienna Secession (german: Wiener Secession; also known as ''the Union of Austrian Artists'', or ''Vereinigung Bildender Künstler Österreichs'') is an art movement, closely related to Art Nouveau, that was formed in 1897 by a group of Austri ...

, a group of rebel artists that seceded from the long-established fine art institution.

Description

The building features the Beethoven Frieze by

Gustav Klimt Gustav Klimt (July 14, 1862 – February 6, 1918) was an Austrian symbolist painter and one of the most prominent members of the Vienna Secession movement. Klimt is noted for his paintings, murals, sketches, and other objets d'art. Klimt's pr ...

, one of the most widely recognized artworks of Secession style (a branch of

Art Nouveau Art Nouveau (; ) is an international style of art, architecture, and applied art, especially the decorative arts. The style is known by different names in different languages: in German, in Italian, in Catalan, and also known as the Modern ...

, also known as Jugendstil in Germany and Nordic countries). The building was financed by Karl Wittgenstein,Monk, ''Ludwig Wittgenstein: The Duty of Genius'': p.8 the father of

Ludwig Wittgenstein Ludwig Josef Johann Wittgenstein ( ; ; 26 April 1889 – 29 April 1951) was an Austrian- British philosopher who worked primarily in logic, the philosophy of mathematics, the philosophy of mind, and the philosophy of language. He is consi ...

. The motto of the Secessionist movement is written above the entrance of the pavilion: "To every age its art, to every art its freedom" (german: Der Zeit ihre Kunst. Der Kunst ihre Freiheit). Below this is a sculpture of three

gorgons A Gorgon ( /ˈɡɔːrɡən/; plural: Gorgons, Ancient Greek: Γοργών/Γοργώ ''Gorgṓn/Gorgṓ'') is a creature in Greek mythology. Gorgons occur in the earliest examples of Greek literature. While descriptions of Gorgons vary, the ...

representing

painting Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called the "matrix" or "support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush, but other implements, such as knives, sponges, and a ...

sculpture Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions. Sculpture is the three-dimensional art work which is physically presented in the dimensions of height, width and depth. It is one of the plastic arts. Durable ...

, and

architecture Architecture is the art and technique of designing and building, as distinguished from the skills associated with construction. It is both the process and the product of sketching, conceiving, planning, designing, and constructing buildings ...

. The building has been selected to figure on the national side of the €0.50 Austrian coin. It also appears as the main motif of one of the Austrian gold collectors' coins: the 100 euro Secession commemorative coin, minted in November 2004, on the obverse side. The reverse depicts a detail from the Beethoven Frieze, which is housed in the building.

Images

File:Wien - Secessionsgebäude.JPG, The Secession Building in 2017 File:Wiener Secessionsgebäude.jpg, Secession Building façade File:Secession Detail Blattwerk.JPG, Foliage work detail File:Jugendstil owls - Koloman Moser - Detail facade of Secession Building - Vienna.jpg, Jugendstil owls on the façade by Koloman Moser File:Gustav Klimt - Beethovenfries, "Die Sehnsucht nach dem Glück" (nach Richard Wagners Interpretation der IX. Sinfonie von Ludwig van Beethoven) - 5987 - Österreichische Galerie Belvedere.jpg, The Beethoven Frieze, created by

, is housed in the lower floor. File:Viennasecessiongorgons.jpg, Painting, Architecture, and Sculpture File:2004 Austria 100 Euro Secession front.jpg, The Secession commemorative coin

Influences

Art Palace in Kraków, Poland, September 2019, 01

'' Young Poland'' ( pl, Młoda Polska) was a

modernist Modernism is both a philosophy, philosophical and arts movement that arose from broad transformations in Western world, Western society during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The movement reflected a desire for the creation of new fo ...

period in Polish

visual arts The visual arts are art forms such as painting, drawing, printmaking, sculpture, ceramics, photography, video, filmmaking, design, crafts and architecture. Many artistic disciplines such as performing arts, conceptual art, and textile art ...

literature Literature is any collection of Writing, written work, but it is also used more narrowly for writings specifically considered to be an art form, especially prose fiction, drama, and poetry. In recent centuries, the definition has expanded to ...

and

music Music is generally defined as the art of arranging sound to create some combination of form, harmony, melody, rhythm or otherwise expressive content. Exact definitions of music vary considerably around the world, though it is an aspe ...

, covering roughly the years between 1890 and 1918 during

Austria-Hungary Austria-Hungary, often referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire,, the Dual Monarchy, or Austria, was a constitutional monarchy and great power in Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. It was formed with the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of ...

. Many of the exhibitions were held at the Palace of Art, also known as "Secession", of the

Kraków Society of Friends of Fine Arts The Kraków Society of Friends of Fine Arts ( pl, Towarzystwo Przyjaciół Sztuk Pięknych w Krakowie, TPSP) is a social group of artists, artisans and their supporters founded in Kraków in 1854, under the Austrian Partition of Poland. Today, the ...

, in Krakow Old Town.

References

External links

Art Nouveau collections Art museums and galleries in Vienna Buildings and structures in Innere Stadt Art museums established in 1897 1897 establishments in Austria Art Nouveau architecture in Vienna Art Nouveau museum buildings Cultural infrastructure completed in 1898 {{Europe-art-display-stub