"To every age its art, to every art its freedom."

The inscription above the door of the Secession Building in Vienna, designed by Joseph Maria Olbrich in 1897, reads: “To every age its art, to every art its freedom.” Purpose-built to host exhibitions of the new arts of modernity, the building itself served as a visual manifesto for the Secession artists — a symbol of their ideals, aesthetic principles, and creative independence.

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Breaking from Tradition

The Vienna Secession was born when a group of artists made a decisive break from the dominant institutions of the time: the Akademie der bildenden Künste (Academy of Fine Arts) and the Künstlerhaus Genossenschaft, a private exhibiting society founded in 1861. Like their counterparts in London, Paris, and Rome, Viennese artists found themselves constrained by academic traditions that favoured naturalism and historicist painting. New and experimental works were routinely rejected.

The Secessionists sought to challenge this conservatism, offering an alternative platform for modern art that was bold, inclusive, and forward-looking. Though short-lived, the movement’s influence was profound.

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Who Were They?

The Secessionists were designers, architects, and artists who embraced the contemporary movements of their time. Among them were Gustav Klimt, Egon Schiele, Koloman Moser, Josef Hoffmann, Joseph Maria Olbrich, and Alfred Roller.

When the Secession formed in 1897, Klimt was elected president — unsurprising given his established reputation. The group held regular exhibitions in their headquarters, the striking Secession Building. They also launched a journal, Ver Sacrum (“Sacred Spring”), first published in 1898. It featured drawings and designs in the Jugendstil (Austrian Art Nouveau) style, alongside contributions from leading European writers.

In its first issue, they declared:

“We desire an art not enslaved to foreigners, but at the same time without fear or hatred of the foreign. The art of abroad should act upon us as an incentive to reflect upon ourselves; we want to recognise it, admire it, if it deserves our admiration; all we do not want to do is imitate it.”

The Secessionists wanted art that was modern, relevant, and responsive to the world around them.

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The Movement and Its Influences

Perhaps the most striking feature of the Vienna Secession is that it had no single artistic style. Instead, it was a fertile exchange of ideas. Its members drew inspiration from a wide range of sources: the Arts and Crafts Movement of William Morris, the folk art of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Japanese prints, Impressionism, the Glasgow School (especially Charles Rennie Mackintosh), French and Belgian Art Nouveau, and even Byzantine art.

Some Secessionists later became associated with emerging movements such as Modernism and Expressionism. At its heart, the Secession embraced the idea of the Gesamtkunstwerk — the “total work of art” — in which all forms of art and craft were considered equal. They rejected the industrialisation of the 19th century, instead championing craftsmanship, handwork, and artistic unity.

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The End of the Vienna Secession

The movement fractured in 1905, when the so-called “Klimt Group” broke away. Without Klimt’s leadership or the spirit of pluralism that had defined its early years, the Secession lost much of its cohesion. Exhibitions continued but lacked the originality and impact of the group’s formative period.

Though united for just eight years, the Vienna Secession had a transformative impact on Viennese and European culture. Its decision to break with academic convention in favour of the new and the young style left a lasting mark on the history of modern art.