0:00:04 > 0:00:08As the 19th century drew to a close,
0:00:08 > 0:00:10a radical new style swept across Europe.
0:00:14 > 0:00:17Victorian rectitude was washed away
0:00:17 > 0:00:22as bohemian artists unleashed a wave of curling, sexual, sensuous art.
0:00:23 > 0:00:27Smog-filled cities were splashed with colour and vitality
0:00:27 > 0:00:31as idealistic architects put nature at the heart of the metropolis.
0:00:32 > 0:00:35And nymph-like women were adored, adorned
0:00:35 > 0:00:38and finally allowed to let their hair down.
0:00:38 > 0:00:42This revolutionary new style was called Art Nouveau.
0:00:42 > 0:00:46It blossomed when ideas met artists,
0:00:46 > 0:00:50in Paris, London, Brussels and Glasgow.
0:00:50 > 0:00:53But it was the idealistic artists of Vienna
0:00:53 > 0:00:56who had the most intense and passionate affair
0:00:56 > 0:00:58with the new style.
0:00:58 > 0:01:02This city was home to an amazing combination of art,
0:01:02 > 0:01:04ambition and intellectualism.
0:01:04 > 0:01:09Its cafes and salons were a ferment of radical politics,
0:01:09 > 0:01:12sexual deviancy and blasphemous ideas,
0:01:12 > 0:01:16and in this hothouse bloomed some of the most beautiful works
0:01:16 > 0:01:18of Art Nouveau the world has ever seen.
0:01:33 > 0:01:37This story of Viennese Art Nouveau
0:01:37 > 0:01:40is a story of beauty in an ugly time.
0:01:43 > 0:01:45A city that discovered psychology
0:01:45 > 0:01:48just as it was having a nervous breakdown.
0:01:51 > 0:01:53An artistic rise and fall.
0:01:55 > 0:02:00And what was meant to be a prelude turned out to be a finale.
0:02:11 > 0:02:13MUSIC: "Waltz No 2" by Dmitri Shostakovich
0:02:48 > 0:02:51You know, every year millions of us come here to Vienna
0:02:51 > 0:02:55to look at Klimt's The Kiss. It's an absolute tourist must.
0:02:57 > 0:02:59- Do you like that?- Yes. - Yeah, it's good.
0:03:03 > 0:03:06For most on the Viennese tourist trail,
0:03:06 > 0:03:08it's all kiss and no tell.
0:03:08 > 0:03:10But there's so much more than Klimt.
0:03:12 > 0:03:15There was the architect, Otto Wagner,
0:03:15 > 0:03:18whose decorative buildings transformed the city.
0:03:18 > 0:03:21There was the designer, Josef Hoffmann,
0:03:21 > 0:03:26whose exquisite geometric patterns redefined Art Nouveau.
0:03:26 > 0:03:30And there was an eccentric supporting cast of renegade artists.
0:03:30 > 0:03:34Together, they dared to take on the establishment
0:03:34 > 0:03:37and won their creative freedom.
0:03:40 > 0:03:44The whole world flocks to Vienna to see the fabulous Art Nouveau,
0:03:44 > 0:03:47and what's more, everybody gets to take a little bit home
0:03:47 > 0:03:51with them too, in the shape of a fridge magnet, a dish towel
0:03:51 > 0:03:52or some souvenir like that.
0:03:54 > 0:03:56Klimt Barbie, anyone?
0:03:56 > 0:03:58No?
0:03:59 > 0:04:02But to go home with a deeper understanding of the art
0:04:02 > 0:04:05and the city, we have to leave the gift shop behind,
0:04:05 > 0:04:09and ask ourselves, "Who were these eclectic artists?
0:04:09 > 0:04:14"What caused an old European city to embrace a radical new style?"
0:04:14 > 0:04:18Well, the story begins with a bizarre catalyst in the 1880s
0:04:18 > 0:04:20When a terrible tragedy,
0:04:20 > 0:04:22a right royal scandal,
0:04:22 > 0:04:25forced the city to re-examine its precious Viennese values.
0:04:27 > 0:04:30Let me take you back to the days of Old Vienna.
0:04:41 > 0:04:43Once upon a time...
0:04:43 > 0:04:47January 1899, to be precise...
0:04:47 > 0:04:52Crown Prince Rudolf, heir to the mighty Austro-Hungarian Empire,
0:04:52 > 0:04:56went for a walk in these woods with his lover.
0:04:56 > 0:04:58They never came back.
0:05:06 > 0:05:09It was complicated. His lover wasn't his wife.
0:05:09 > 0:05:14Rudolf was in an arranged aristocratic marriage but unhappy.
0:05:14 > 0:05:18No, she was the teenage Baroness, Marie Vetsera,
0:05:18 > 0:05:20who adored her Prince.
0:05:20 > 0:05:23But their affair ended in horror.
0:05:23 > 0:05:26He took out a gun and murdered his mistress
0:05:26 > 0:05:28before turning the weapon on himself.
0:05:28 > 0:05:30GUNSHOT
0:05:32 > 0:05:36The death of the Crown Prince triggered a cultural crisis.
0:05:36 > 0:05:39Vienna was shocked to its very core.
0:05:39 > 0:05:43Thinkers and artists, like the designer Josef Hoffmann,
0:05:43 > 0:05:48architect Otto Wagner and painter Koloman Moser, met in the cafes
0:05:48 > 0:05:50and bars and wondered what had happened
0:05:50 > 0:05:52to the city's moral compass.
0:05:52 > 0:05:56It was a seismic scandal in a turbulent time.
0:05:56 > 0:05:59And the shockwaves made the traditional Viennese values
0:05:59 > 0:06:02look increasingly fragile and old-fashioned.
0:06:04 > 0:06:06There was a very stifling conventionality,
0:06:06 > 0:06:11a very, very stifling official culture, this imperial rigidity.
0:06:11 > 0:06:15The picture of the Emperor everywhere, overlooking every room.
0:06:15 > 0:06:18But at the same time, you know, there were...
0:06:18 > 0:06:21People simply exercised their life choices,
0:06:21 > 0:06:24but that had to be away from what is admitted publicly.
0:06:24 > 0:06:27You were not supposed to touch your wife in public,
0:06:27 > 0:06:30but you could have a lover somewhere
0:06:30 > 0:06:34installed in a little apartment, as long as it didn't become public.
0:06:35 > 0:06:38So there was a sort of institutionalised hypocrisy.
0:06:38 > 0:06:41The imperial identity was very important,
0:06:41 > 0:06:45but it was really a paste-on, it was a facade, if you want.
0:06:45 > 0:06:48You had to have the official facade that was not questioned,
0:06:48 > 0:06:51- and what you did behind it was your own business.- It was up to you.
0:06:54 > 0:06:56Behind the facades, the city was daring
0:06:56 > 0:06:58to question its long-held assumptions.
0:07:01 > 0:07:03Shouldn't Viennese art be celebrating sensuality,
0:07:03 > 0:07:06rather than denying it?
0:07:06 > 0:07:09Should its artists not be more honest about psychology,
0:07:09 > 0:07:10sex and death?
0:07:10 > 0:07:13After all, in other European capitals,
0:07:13 > 0:07:16artists were daring to try something new.
0:07:18 > 0:07:20La Belle Epoque-era Paris
0:07:20 > 0:07:23was in the thrall of what they called l'Art Nouveau.
0:07:23 > 0:07:26In Glasgow, Charles Rennie Mackintosh
0:07:26 > 0:07:28was designing his inspirational School Of Art.
0:07:28 > 0:07:31And with new printing presses rolling,
0:07:31 > 0:07:33influential art journals from across the continent
0:07:33 > 0:07:37made their way back to the banks of the Blue Danube.
0:07:37 > 0:07:42Viennese artists were desperate to waltz to a new beat.
0:07:45 > 0:07:50C'mon people, get with the programme. It's the 1890s.
0:07:50 > 0:07:53The age of mass rail travel,
0:07:53 > 0:07:58popular printing presses and international exhibitions.
0:07:58 > 0:08:01Do you come here often? You're a lovely mover.
0:08:01 > 0:08:04An idea could take off in Europe
0:08:04 > 0:08:07and sweep through the continent in literally months.
0:08:16 > 0:08:20In many ways, Vienna's artists were the last to arrive
0:08:20 > 0:08:21at the Art Nouveau Ball.
0:08:21 > 0:08:26Because there was one seemingly insurmountable hurdle...
0:08:26 > 0:08:30The all-powerful committee of the Association of Austrian Artists.
0:08:30 > 0:08:34Or as it was known locally, Das Kunstlerhaus.
0:08:34 > 0:08:38Such was the stranglehold of the Kunstlerhaus over Vienna
0:08:38 > 0:08:40in those days, that if you were an artist,
0:08:40 > 0:08:43you couldn't get your stuff into an official exhibition
0:08:43 > 0:08:45without their explicit say-so.
0:08:48 > 0:08:52The Kunstlerhaus curated all the major art shows in the city,
0:08:52 > 0:08:56and always chose ceiling-to-floor classic historic art
0:08:56 > 0:08:58by Austrian artists.
0:08:58 > 0:09:00Safe. Traditional.
0:09:00 > 0:09:01Boring!
0:09:01 > 0:09:05There was no room for experiments and new styles were rejected.
0:09:05 > 0:09:09In the coffee houses, revolting young artists fumed
0:09:09 > 0:09:13at the lack of freedom, and vowed to storm the Conservative Kunstlerhaus.
0:09:14 > 0:09:19This is where Art Nouveau was born in Vienna, in April, 1897.
0:09:19 > 0:09:24A group of harrumphing young artists turned up here at the Kunstlerhaus.
0:09:24 > 0:09:27And they said, "We've had enough of your boring,
0:09:27 > 0:09:30"stultifying establishment. We're seceding from it."
0:09:30 > 0:09:33And so begat the Secession.
0:09:37 > 0:09:40It was a pivotal moment for Viennese art.
0:09:40 > 0:09:43The Secession would change everything.
0:09:43 > 0:09:48This famous photo shows some of the original Secessionists.
0:09:48 > 0:09:50They include Emil Orlik,
0:09:50 > 0:09:54a graphic illustrator who'd worked for the prestigious Pan magazine.
0:09:54 > 0:09:58Carl Moll, who at this point was an idealistic painter,
0:09:58 > 0:10:00but would end up a fervent Nazi,
0:10:00 > 0:10:02and Maximilian Kurzweil,
0:10:02 > 0:10:07a painter who would later succumb to the same fate as the Crown Prince,
0:10:07 > 0:10:09when he shot his lover and then himself.
0:10:09 > 0:10:11They may have looked confident.
0:10:11 > 0:10:15The picture makes them look like some obscure, cool indie band.
0:10:15 > 0:10:18But the Secession was a huge risk.
0:10:18 > 0:10:21Without the Kunstlerhaus, the Secessionists had nowhere
0:10:21 > 0:10:23to exhibit, no commissions,
0:10:23 > 0:10:26and risked artistic ridicule.
0:10:26 > 0:10:28They desperately needed a credible figurehead,
0:10:28 > 0:10:31so they approached the rising star of Viennese art
0:10:31 > 0:10:34and asked him to act as their president.
0:10:37 > 0:10:39Gustav Klimt became the best known,
0:10:39 > 0:10:42the most celebrated painter in Art Nouveau,
0:10:42 > 0:10:47but he began life as just another late classic historical artist.
0:10:47 > 0:10:51The young Klimt began painting in the 1880s,
0:10:51 > 0:10:54initially churning out the sort of establishment art
0:10:54 > 0:10:56cherished by the great and the good.
0:10:56 > 0:10:59Like this ceiling panel in the Burgtheater.
0:10:59 > 0:11:02And by the way, check out the figure towards the back,
0:11:02 > 0:11:03in the beard and the ruff,
0:11:03 > 0:11:05looking slightly off.
0:11:05 > 0:11:09That's a rare self-portrait of the young Gustav Klimt.
0:11:09 > 0:11:12But in 1892, Klimt was traumatised
0:11:12 > 0:11:16by the death of his beloved brother and of his father.
0:11:16 > 0:11:21He rejected conservative ideas and began to explore a new style.
0:11:21 > 0:11:24A couple of years later, he was commissioned by Vienna University
0:11:24 > 0:11:28to paint four inspiring ceiling panels.
0:11:28 > 0:11:31Sadly the original paintings were destroyed by the Nazis,
0:11:31 > 0:11:35and we're left with these black and white copies.
0:11:35 > 0:11:39But you can still see how radically Klimt's style was changing,
0:11:39 > 0:11:44infused with sex, death and the European spirit of Art Nouveau.
0:11:44 > 0:11:47The University hated them, but Klimt didn't care.
0:11:47 > 0:11:48He was up for the fight,
0:11:48 > 0:11:52and agreed to become president of the Secessionists.
0:11:56 > 0:11:58In many ways, Klimt was an odd choice.
0:11:58 > 0:12:00He was notoriously taciturn,
0:12:00 > 0:12:04not a man you'd turn to to voice an opinion in public.
0:12:04 > 0:12:07And he was making a very comfortable living
0:12:07 > 0:12:10with commissions from the Viennese establishment and the state.
0:12:10 > 0:12:14But this was different. This was about art. It was about freedom.
0:12:14 > 0:12:19And so taking a huge professional and personal gamble,
0:12:19 > 0:12:21he simply turned his back on the establishment
0:12:21 > 0:12:23and became president of the Secessionists.
0:12:36 > 0:12:39One of the first things Klimt and the gang did
0:12:39 > 0:12:42was to publish their very own art journal.
0:12:42 > 0:12:47It gave them a platform to air their Secessionist principles,
0:12:47 > 0:12:49their liberal views
0:12:49 > 0:12:52and their breathtaking graphic work.
0:12:52 > 0:12:54They called it Ver Sacrum.
0:12:56 > 0:13:01Ver Sacrum sacred spring. It really means fountain of youth,
0:13:01 > 0:13:06with all the connotations of energy, youth,
0:13:06 > 0:13:10vitality and sexuality that that expresses.
0:13:10 > 0:13:14And there's something of that in the cover plate.
0:13:14 > 0:13:17And what we have here is a young plant,
0:13:17 > 0:13:21bursting out of the pot it's kept in.
0:13:21 > 0:13:25And it's a way of saying, I suppose quite a polite way of saying,
0:13:25 > 0:13:28"Sod you lot. We're doing our own thing from now,
0:13:28 > 0:13:33"we won't be confined by what's gone before and by what you're used to."
0:13:34 > 0:13:37This is the closest thing that the Secession,
0:13:37 > 0:13:41the Viennese Art Nouveau, had to a manifesto.
0:13:41 > 0:13:46And the fact that the artists and writers were donating their work
0:13:46 > 0:13:49for nothing is all part of the spirit of Ver Sacrum.
0:13:49 > 0:13:53Art is what counts, not bourgeois values like money.
0:13:53 > 0:13:57Not putting things in the bank, but things for eternity,
0:13:57 > 0:14:00things of ethereal spiritual value.
0:14:02 > 0:14:05And basically they were attracting contributions
0:14:05 > 0:14:09from the outstanding artists and writers of the time,
0:14:09 > 0:14:12and of course from Klimt, a mainstay of Ver Sacrum.
0:14:16 > 0:14:20And in the first ever edition, they declared...
0:14:20 > 0:14:22"We want to bring art from abroad to Vienna,
0:14:22 > 0:14:26"not for the sake of artists, intellectuals and collectors alone,
0:14:26 > 0:14:28"but to educate the great mass of the people
0:14:28 > 0:14:30"who are receptive to art.
0:14:30 > 0:14:34"And for this we turn to you without distinction of status or wealth.
0:14:34 > 0:14:39"We do not recognise any distinction between higher art and low art,
0:14:39 > 0:14:42"between art of the rich and art for the poor.
0:14:42 > 0:14:44"Art is the property of everyone."
0:14:44 > 0:14:46Some of the people who contributed
0:14:46 > 0:14:49were still recognisably in the historical tradition,
0:14:49 > 0:14:53but there's no doubt that they were all moving towards the Art Nouveau,
0:14:53 > 0:14:54as we now understand it.
0:14:54 > 0:14:57Except they didn't call it that.
0:14:57 > 0:15:02Instead they co-opted a German word, Jugendstil, meaning "youth style".
0:15:12 > 0:15:15Jugendstil was Vienna's unique contribution
0:15:15 > 0:15:17to European Art Nouveau.
0:15:17 > 0:15:21There were influences from Japan, from France,
0:15:21 > 0:15:23disparate elements built upon one another.
0:15:24 > 0:15:29Like all European Art Nouveau, Jugendstil was sexual.
0:15:29 > 0:15:32Dare I say it, even a little bit playful and camp.
0:15:33 > 0:15:35There was no hierarchy.
0:15:35 > 0:15:37Craft and graphic art were as important
0:15:37 > 0:15:40as the painters and sculptors.
0:15:40 > 0:15:42And in Vienna,
0:15:42 > 0:15:46the curves owed as much to geometry as they did to botany.
0:15:46 > 0:15:48But ultimately there were no rules or diktats,
0:15:48 > 0:15:53as the Secession was founded on the principles of artistic freedom.
0:15:53 > 0:15:57I wanted to show you this special one painting by Wilhelm Bernatzik.
0:15:57 > 0:15:59He's one of the founding members.
0:15:59 > 0:16:02So whilst works by artists like Wilhelm Bernatzik
0:16:02 > 0:16:04might look quite traditional to the modern eye,
0:16:04 > 0:16:06the dissent is in the detail.
0:16:07 > 0:16:09And this painting represents
0:16:09 > 0:16:12one aspect which was very important to the Secessionists.
0:16:12 > 0:16:15It was a new beginning in art,
0:16:15 > 0:16:18and what they wanted to express is inner feelings
0:16:18 > 0:16:20which have been suppressed very much.
0:16:20 > 0:16:22So it's not a naturalistic depiction
0:16:22 > 0:16:26of things which we can find in the landscape,
0:16:26 > 0:16:31but it's about the inner feeling which comes out
0:16:31 > 0:16:32when you contemplate this scene.
0:16:32 > 0:16:37What kind of things would you say the Secessionists had in common?
0:16:37 > 0:16:42What united all the Secessionists was the wish to educate the public.
0:16:42 > 0:16:47What they wanted is to elevate taste, elegance, so to say,
0:16:47 > 0:16:49so they wanted to bring in international art.
0:16:49 > 0:16:54They tried to confront Austrian art with international art,
0:16:54 > 0:16:58which up to that point hadn't been seen very much.
0:16:58 > 0:17:01As Art Nouveau arrived from across the continent,
0:17:01 > 0:17:04artists like Koloman Moser, who'd spent years debating
0:17:04 > 0:17:08the merits of the style with his fellow cafe conspirators,
0:17:08 > 0:17:13finally had the chance to create a distinctive Viennese version.
0:17:13 > 0:17:16This painting over here, by Kolo Moser...
0:17:16 > 0:17:20And he was the multi-talent of the Secession.
0:17:20 > 0:17:22As you know, he was a designer of furniture.
0:17:22 > 0:17:28He was one of the greatest graphic designers of the time.
0:17:28 > 0:17:32He was one of the major figures of Ver Sacrum, of the magazine.
0:17:32 > 0:17:35And he was a painter. Many of his paintings
0:17:35 > 0:17:39in profile or very frontal, very simple.
0:17:39 > 0:17:46And this reduction is quite a typical aspect of the Secession.
0:17:46 > 0:17:49Another one would be the square format,
0:17:49 > 0:17:53the thin-framed... aspects of elegance
0:17:53 > 0:17:55which were important to the Secessionists.
0:17:55 > 0:17:57What else shall we see?
0:17:57 > 0:18:00- Let's go over to there.- Why not?
0:18:00 > 0:18:03Freed from a strict diet of Austrian historic painting,
0:18:03 > 0:18:07the Secessionists eagerly embraced Art Nouveau.
0:18:07 > 0:18:11They experimented with styles, surface and symbolism
0:18:11 > 0:18:16and they explored sexuality, mortality and human frailty.
0:18:16 > 0:18:19Jugendstil was a new art for a new era.
0:18:19 > 0:18:22And when the Secessionists founded their new movement,
0:18:22 > 0:18:24it was so important to them
0:18:24 > 0:18:26that they could speak with different voices.
0:18:26 > 0:18:30And that's why you really have a variety of expressions
0:18:30 > 0:18:32in the first years of the Secession.
0:18:32 > 0:18:35So, in this regard, it was really a break
0:18:35 > 0:18:39with things that had gone on before.
0:18:40 > 0:18:43In 1898, just a year after they'd seceded,
0:18:43 > 0:18:47the artistic rebels, with the help of a few wealthy patrons,
0:18:47 > 0:18:50built a home for the Secession.
0:18:50 > 0:18:53And the building was as radical
0:18:53 > 0:18:55as the art it was created to contain.
0:19:05 > 0:19:09Significantly, the Secession building is away from
0:19:09 > 0:19:13grandiose establishment buildings on Vienna's main Ringstrasse.
0:19:13 > 0:19:15On the roof, there's a dome
0:19:15 > 0:19:19decorated with 3,000 gold-plated laurel leaves.
0:19:19 > 0:19:22But there are no windows looking onto the street.
0:19:22 > 0:19:25It's as if the gallery invites you to step inside.
0:19:25 > 0:19:29To look deeper. To be introspective.
0:19:29 > 0:19:32And maybe that's no surprise, because the architect Joseph Olbrich
0:19:32 > 0:19:36said he wanted to erect a temple of art,
0:19:36 > 0:19:39which would offer the art lover a quiet, elegant place of refuge.
0:19:40 > 0:19:44Inside, there was another shock for visitors.
0:19:50 > 0:19:55The Secession was one of the first white cube gallery spaces,
0:19:55 > 0:19:59a sparse layout that in 1898 was a dazzlingly new
0:19:59 > 0:20:01and daringly modern idea.
0:20:01 > 0:20:06To this day, the gallery is still devoted to contemporary art.
0:20:06 > 0:20:09But you can get a flavour of the original Secession in the basement,
0:20:09 > 0:20:12where Klimt's 1902 masterpiece
0:20:12 > 0:20:16the Beethoven Frieze is on permanent display.
0:20:18 > 0:20:22The magnificent Beethoven Frieze is meant to be read from left to right.
0:20:22 > 0:20:26So in the first panel, these lovely, leggy, ethereal ladies
0:20:26 > 0:20:30represent the longing for true happiness.
0:20:30 > 0:20:34And you can see how far Klimt's come from historicism.
0:20:34 > 0:20:37Look at how delicate and sensuous these women are.
0:20:37 > 0:20:40The mood changes a little further along.
0:20:40 > 0:20:45These unclothed figures are the sufferings of weak humanity
0:20:45 > 0:20:50and they're petitioning the knight in his wonderful golden chain mail,
0:20:50 > 0:20:52his armour, to take on their struggle.
0:20:52 > 0:20:54But that's bad news for him, in a way,
0:20:54 > 0:20:56because he has to have a bout with Typhus,
0:20:56 > 0:20:59that King Kong figure in the corner.
0:20:59 > 0:21:03And his seconds, if you like, over there are the three gorgons...
0:21:03 > 0:21:05Sickness, Madness and Death.
0:21:10 > 0:21:12Typhus is also attended
0:21:12 > 0:21:15by Licentiousness, Wantonness, Intemperance.
0:21:15 > 0:21:17What hope is there for us mortals
0:21:17 > 0:21:21in this wretched, lousy world Klimt is suggesting?
0:21:21 > 0:21:24Well, here's a clue. This beautiful woman in gold,
0:21:24 > 0:21:28plucking at her lyre, represents happiness through poetry.
0:21:28 > 0:21:32And this is what he's building up to with his closing finale here.
0:21:32 > 0:21:36Our best hope of comfort and fulfilment on this mortal coil
0:21:36 > 0:21:38is in the arts.
0:21:38 > 0:21:42Look at these beautiful women. The gold, the chorus of angels.
0:21:42 > 0:21:46And the finest fulfilment of the arts yet known,
0:21:46 > 0:21:48he's almost suggesting,
0:21:48 > 0:21:52is the work of Beethoven and the celestial Ode To Joy.
0:21:55 > 0:21:56On the opening night,
0:21:56 > 0:22:00Mahler put on a special rendition of Ode To Joy,
0:22:00 > 0:22:04and I can thoroughly recommend a blast of the old LVB
0:22:04 > 0:22:07as you're taking in the frieze.
0:22:07 > 0:22:10It really starts to make sense. Trust me.
0:22:10 > 0:22:12MUSIC: "Ode To Joy" by Beethoven
0:22:39 > 0:22:41Perhaps most tellingly,
0:22:41 > 0:22:43the iconic building was emblazoned with the most cherished belief
0:22:43 > 0:22:46of the whole Secessionist project.
0:22:46 > 0:22:48Above the door, in big gold letters,
0:22:48 > 0:22:54it reads, "Der Zeit ihre Kunst. Der Kunst ihre Freiheit,"
0:22:54 > 0:22:56which of course translates as...
0:22:56 > 0:22:59"To the age, its art. To the art, its freedom."
0:23:01 > 0:23:02So what's that all about, then?
0:23:02 > 0:23:05Is it just a load of old guff?
0:23:05 > 0:23:06"To the age, its art."
0:23:06 > 0:23:09Well, here the young ones, the Jugendstil, are saying,
0:23:09 > 0:23:12"Move over, Daddio. You've had your time.
0:23:12 > 0:23:15"We refuse to be hidebound by what's gone before."
0:23:15 > 0:23:18"To the art, its freedom," develops that thought.
0:23:18 > 0:23:21It says, "We reserve the right to pick and choose
0:23:21 > 0:23:25"from a smorgasbord of ideas, new and old.
0:23:25 > 0:23:28"This is a new art for a new century."
0:23:33 > 0:23:35Through the pages of Ver Sacrum
0:23:35 > 0:23:39and the frequent Secessionist exhibitions,
0:23:39 > 0:23:41Viennese Jugendstil grew in confidence.
0:23:41 > 0:23:45Works by Klimt, Koloman Moser and Carl Moll
0:23:45 > 0:23:48were widely admired and celebrated.
0:23:48 > 0:23:50But not everyone was delighted.
0:23:50 > 0:23:54When Archduke Franz Ferdinand visited the Secession exhibition,
0:23:54 > 0:23:59he said, "Those rascals should have every bone in their body broken."
0:24:01 > 0:24:04But the Jugendstil kids couldn't care less.
0:24:04 > 0:24:07They were brash, confident young Viennese artists,
0:24:07 > 0:24:10and if the establishment hated the YVAs,
0:24:10 > 0:24:12that only proved they were onto something.
0:24:12 > 0:24:17Their first show pulled in getting on for 60,000 people.
0:24:17 > 0:24:18No wonder they were so bold.
0:24:24 > 0:24:26The Viennese art revolution coincided with
0:24:26 > 0:24:29a social revolution in the city.
0:24:31 > 0:24:35The population of Vienna doubled between 1870 and 1900
0:24:35 > 0:24:37and as the city expanded,
0:24:37 > 0:24:42it gave the architects a chance to get in on the Jugendstil action.
0:24:42 > 0:24:46The most celebrated of them in the city was Otto Wagner.
0:24:47 > 0:24:52With years of experience, ol' Otto was trusted by the authorities.
0:24:52 > 0:24:56But he was also a teacher, with a radical side to him.
0:24:57 > 0:25:00His students included architects like Josef Hoffmann,
0:25:00 > 0:25:03and the man who designed the Secessionist building,
0:25:03 > 0:25:05Joseph Olbrich.
0:25:05 > 0:25:09And they seemed to inspire him as much as he inspired them.
0:25:12 > 0:25:16Otto Wagner was known as the Secessionists' Secessionist,
0:25:16 > 0:25:19and when you look at his buildings, you can see why.
0:25:19 > 0:25:23Look at the design, that floral motif, the ornament of it.
0:25:23 > 0:25:27It could almost be a painting by Klimt of a woman's dress.
0:25:41 > 0:25:44The new art and new city came together
0:25:44 > 0:25:47when Otto Wagner designed the spectacular stations
0:25:47 > 0:25:49of the Viennese underground,
0:25:49 > 0:25:52including a stop built for the Emperor himself.
0:25:56 > 0:25:59One admirer at the time said Wagner's stations
0:25:59 > 0:26:02were the highpoint of "function and poetry,
0:26:02 > 0:26:05"constructions and decoration."
0:26:05 > 0:26:08Secessionist architecture,
0:26:08 > 0:26:12with its modern geometric patterns, was changing the face of Vienna.
0:26:12 > 0:26:14But the artists and architects
0:26:14 > 0:26:17weren't content with superficial differences.
0:26:17 > 0:26:20After all, they didn't want to just replace the old facade
0:26:20 > 0:26:23with a shiny new facade.
0:26:23 > 0:26:26They wanted deeper change.
0:26:26 > 0:26:29One word, and it's very good word, you're going to love it,
0:26:29 > 0:26:31sums up the entire Secession aesthetic.
0:26:31 > 0:26:33Are you ready?
0:26:33 > 0:26:36Gesamtkunstwerk. Bless you.
0:26:36 > 0:26:40It's a Wagnerian concept, and it means "a total work of art".
0:26:42 > 0:26:47Because it wasn't enough to gaze at Klimt's beautiful paintings.
0:26:47 > 0:26:51It wasn't enough to pop into the Secession exhibitions.
0:26:51 > 0:26:53It wasn't even enough to live in a house
0:26:53 > 0:26:56decorated and designed by Otto Wagner.
0:26:56 > 0:26:58No, for the true Jugendstil experience,
0:26:58 > 0:27:01you had to live a life immersed,
0:27:01 > 0:27:04surrounded and improved by art.
0:27:04 > 0:27:07You needed to live the life Gesamtkunstwerk.
0:27:07 > 0:27:10And that meant infusing your life with the spirit of the Secession,
0:27:10 > 0:27:14from the Beethoven Frieze to the kitchen cupboard.
0:27:14 > 0:27:19Christian, this looks to my untutored eye
0:27:19 > 0:27:23to be a fairly humdrum sort of item. Why have we stopped here?
0:27:23 > 0:27:26At the time it was really revolutionary for people.
0:27:26 > 0:27:31We have artist, which is Josef Hoffmann, an architect,
0:27:31 > 0:27:36who bothers to design a piece of furniture for a second-class room,
0:27:36 > 0:27:37which is the kitchen.
0:27:37 > 0:27:42For us today, the kitchen has become the most expensive room
0:27:42 > 0:27:46of the apartment. But then, no visitor would see.
0:27:46 > 0:27:48Also, from a formal aspect,
0:27:48 > 0:27:54it was revolutionary, because it has no traditional decoration on it,
0:27:54 > 0:27:56which would be carving or moulding.
0:27:56 > 0:27:59So the function and the construction
0:27:59 > 0:28:02produces the aesthetics of the cabinet.
0:28:02 > 0:28:06It's all about very subtle details.
0:28:06 > 0:28:10Why to waste them on a kitchen cupboard?
0:28:10 > 0:28:12Well, why did they waste them on a kitchen cupboard?
0:28:12 > 0:28:16That's the basic idea of the arts and crafts movement,
0:28:16 > 0:28:21to give the people who were most affected by the negative aspects
0:28:21 > 0:28:26of the industrial revolution a voice and a beautiful surrounding.
0:28:27 > 0:28:30The cabinet was made by the Wiener Werkstatte,
0:28:30 > 0:28:36a collection of Vienna's finest artists, artisans and craftsmen.
0:28:36 > 0:28:40The Wiener Werkstatte Vienna Workshop - was founded in 1903
0:28:40 > 0:28:42by two of the original Secessionists.
0:28:42 > 0:28:47The always impeccably dressed Josef Hoffmann, an architect and designer
0:28:47 > 0:28:50who began with big, idealistic ideas
0:28:50 > 0:28:54about kitchen cabinets improving the lives of servants,
0:28:54 > 0:28:58and his friend, Koloman Moser, the great all-rounder
0:28:58 > 0:29:02who painted for the Secession and was instrumental in Ver Sacrum.
0:29:02 > 0:29:06They wanted to get away from curvy, botanically inspired Art Nouveau,
0:29:06 > 0:29:11towards a distinctive new geometric Viennese aesthetic.
0:29:11 > 0:29:15In fact, Hoffmann's obsession with grid-like patterns earned him
0:29:15 > 0:29:18the perhaps uncool nickname Little Square Hoffmann.
0:29:20 > 0:29:24Together, Hoffmann and Moser ran the Wiener Werkstatte,
0:29:24 > 0:29:27infusing Jugendstil principles into the furnishings and objects
0:29:27 > 0:29:29of everyday life.
0:29:29 > 0:29:33Now, this looks very different.
0:29:33 > 0:29:34Can you tell me about this?
0:29:34 > 0:29:38OK. Indeed it is extremely different,
0:29:38 > 0:29:44and it marks a period where all the social idealism is gone,
0:29:44 > 0:29:48and it's all about the artist wanting to realise
0:29:48 > 0:29:50his creative idea.
0:29:50 > 0:29:52They could have carved this, you know?
0:29:52 > 0:29:55Or they could have made the inlay out of flowers.
0:29:55 > 0:29:59But they chose this very simple band.
0:29:59 > 0:30:02And it's about honesty, simplicity.
0:30:02 > 0:30:04It didn't matter if the art was old or new.
0:30:04 > 0:30:07They wanted artistic expression again.
0:30:10 > 0:30:14The Werkstatte was proud of its perfectionism, declaring,
0:30:14 > 0:30:16"Better to work ten days on one product
0:30:16 > 0:30:19"than to manufacture ten products in one day."
0:30:19 > 0:30:24Despite Hoffmann's early democratic intentions, it soon became clear
0:30:24 > 0:30:27that it was only the very rich and the very adventurous
0:30:27 > 0:30:31who could afford the Werkstatte's stamp of perfection.
0:30:31 > 0:30:36This egg cup and the pepper caster...
0:30:36 > 0:30:39one of the most fantastic objects
0:30:39 > 0:30:42the Wiener Werkstatte ever produced.
0:30:42 > 0:30:43Really?
0:30:43 > 0:30:46Today, again, we take them for granted,
0:30:46 > 0:30:49this individuality of the shape,
0:30:49 > 0:30:52but for people at the time, they must have looked like aliens.
0:30:52 > 0:30:56It looks like a flying saucer, this egg cup,
0:30:56 > 0:31:01and no ornamentation on it, just the cut-out squares.
0:31:01 > 0:31:06And this was an extremely expensive luxury item.
0:31:06 > 0:31:09If you bought this, you were really making a statement
0:31:09 > 0:31:11about yourself, or trying to, is that right?
0:31:11 > 0:31:13Yes.
0:31:13 > 0:31:19You tried to tell society that you exist, and that...
0:31:19 > 0:31:23It's like what's happening in New York today still,
0:31:23 > 0:31:28that... You ask an interior decorator to do your apartment,
0:31:28 > 0:31:33to make an impact on society, that you count.
0:31:36 > 0:31:40But even for the Viennese middle class desperate to show off,
0:31:40 > 0:31:44exquisite Art Nouveau furnishings were prohibitively expensive.
0:31:44 > 0:31:47Fortunately for the Wiener Werkstatte,
0:31:47 > 0:31:50they had caught the eye of a financier who had invested
0:31:50 > 0:31:51in the Viennese railways,
0:31:51 > 0:31:55a man called Adolphe Stoclet.
0:31:55 > 0:31:58As a cultured, liberal European,
0:31:58 > 0:32:02Stoclet was excited by Vienna's Art Nouveau.
0:32:02 > 0:32:04And he was also very...
0:32:04 > 0:32:07very...rich.
0:32:07 > 0:32:11When his father died, Stoclet inherited a fortune.
0:32:11 > 0:32:14He and his wife were already keen on the Secession.
0:32:14 > 0:32:17Here was a chance for them to indulge their passion.
0:32:17 > 0:32:20In 1904, they commissioned Josef Hoffmann
0:32:20 > 0:32:22to build them their dream house.
0:32:22 > 0:32:26It would be themed and designed right down to the egg cups.
0:32:26 > 0:32:30That's right, it was going to be a Gesamtkunstwerk.
0:32:30 > 0:32:32For the Stoclets, it was the opportunity
0:32:32 > 0:32:36to show off their taste and their modernity.
0:32:36 > 0:32:39Viennese artists couldn't believe their luck.
0:32:39 > 0:32:44Here was a chance to indulge their wildest excesses, money no object.
0:32:44 > 0:32:48It was to be the finest Art Nouveau building in all of...
0:32:48 > 0:32:50TRAIN HORN BLARES
0:32:51 > 0:32:52..Brussels.
0:32:54 > 0:32:59Because Mr and Mrs Stoclet's dream location, location, location
0:32:59 > 0:33:02was in fact 570 miles from Vienna.
0:33:06 > 0:33:10Believe it or not, Brussels was one of the most exciting
0:33:10 > 0:33:13artistic cities of the fin de siecle.
0:33:21 > 0:33:25They were creating the first Art Nouveau buildings here in 1893,
0:33:25 > 0:33:29four years before the Viennese even plucked up the courage
0:33:29 > 0:33:31to start their own Secession.
0:33:31 > 0:33:33And just sauntering through the city,
0:33:33 > 0:33:37you see architectural gems on every corner.
0:33:47 > 0:33:50Brussels' Art Nouveau star
0:33:50 > 0:33:53was Victor Horta, whose innovate architecture
0:33:53 > 0:33:57pioneered the use of organic curls and swirls.
0:34:00 > 0:34:04Horta designed houses for nouveau riche Belgians,
0:34:04 > 0:34:07with seaweed-like wrought iron.
0:34:07 > 0:34:11And he was one of the first architects to integrate
0:34:11 > 0:34:14all-new electric light into his interior stylings.
0:34:15 > 0:34:20This is Victor Horta's house. It's now a museum to the old boy.
0:34:20 > 0:34:25Built in 1898, it's resplendent, as you see, with light, nature,
0:34:25 > 0:34:28organic shapes.
0:34:28 > 0:34:30If the Viennese architects were going to come up with
0:34:30 > 0:34:33anything as good as this, right here in Brussels,
0:34:33 > 0:34:36it would be like the toughest away game imaginable.
0:34:38 > 0:34:42The Stoclet Palais would have to be a masterpiece.
0:34:46 > 0:34:50Work began on the Stoclet Palais in 1905.
0:34:50 > 0:34:53Every detail had to be honed, perfected.
0:34:53 > 0:34:57This exhibition shows the extensive preparatory work,
0:34:57 > 0:35:00showcasing the early plans and sketches.
0:35:02 > 0:35:04Viennese architect Josef Hoffmann designed the building,
0:35:04 > 0:35:08and the artists of the Wiener Werkstatte
0:35:08 > 0:35:10furnished the interiors.
0:35:10 > 0:35:12For an opulent finishing touch,
0:35:12 > 0:35:16the great star of Vienna's art scene, Klimt himself,
0:35:16 > 0:35:19created a huge centrepiece frieze.
0:35:20 > 0:35:23It took five long years to complete.
0:35:23 > 0:35:28There was to be a unity of style to every aspect of the building.
0:35:28 > 0:35:31It would be a Viennese masterpiece in the heart of Brussels.
0:35:43 > 0:35:45So what's the old pile like on the inside?
0:35:45 > 0:35:48Does that interior sing like a symphony?
0:35:48 > 0:35:52Is that Klimt frieze all it's cracked up to be?
0:35:52 > 0:35:54Sadly, for the public, for historians,
0:35:54 > 0:35:57and yes, even for arts documentaries,
0:35:57 > 0:36:00the house and its contents are out of bounds,
0:36:00 > 0:36:02tied up in a long-running legal dispute
0:36:02 > 0:36:04involving Stoclet's descendants.
0:36:04 > 0:36:07So there's nothing else for it, is there?
0:36:07 > 0:36:09But to peek over the fence.
0:36:23 > 0:36:27It's the great Miss Havisham of European architecture,
0:36:27 > 0:36:31still dressed up in its finery, but withdrawn from the world.
0:36:33 > 0:36:36The house, garden, interiors and furnishings
0:36:36 > 0:36:39were all conceived as an architectural whole.
0:36:43 > 0:36:48Every detail. The carpet, wallpaper, glass, silverware, lighting,
0:36:48 > 0:36:53furniture and fittings, was designed and created in Vienna.
0:36:56 > 0:36:59The dining room had Hoffmann silver cutlery, crockery
0:36:59 > 0:37:02and 24 matching chairs covered in reindeer skin.
0:37:04 > 0:37:06Even the children's playroom
0:37:06 > 0:37:11had a Wiener Werkstatte-designed frieze on the wall.
0:37:11 > 0:37:16Vienna's finest architect, finest craftsman and finest artist
0:37:16 > 0:37:20had finally created the ultimate Gesamtkunstwerk.
0:37:22 > 0:37:24But to this day, the secrets of the Stoclet Palais
0:37:24 > 0:37:26remain locked away.
0:37:40 > 0:37:43The most famous painting in Austria,
0:37:43 > 0:37:46the jewel in Vienna's Art Nouveau crown,
0:37:46 > 0:37:49the work which is synonymous with Gustav Klimt,
0:37:49 > 0:37:52was painted in 1908.
0:37:52 > 0:37:57It's one of those rare iconic works of art that needs no introduction.
0:37:57 > 0:37:59First of all, I have to say it's not The Kiss.
0:37:59 > 0:38:02When you look at the painting, you will see it's not The Kiss.
0:38:02 > 0:38:03They're lovers.
0:38:03 > 0:38:06So, also Klimt named the painting Lovers.
0:38:06 > 0:38:08This is something special.
0:38:08 > 0:38:11It's not The Kiss, it's definitely the moment before.
0:38:11 > 0:38:13So this is very important to know.
0:38:15 > 0:38:18Whatever you call Klimt's masterpiece,
0:38:18 > 0:38:23standing in front of the original is an overwhelming experience.
0:38:23 > 0:38:26No wonder it's held up as the pinnacle of Viennese Art Nouveau.
0:38:32 > 0:38:36Decorative and fine arts are intertwined here,
0:38:36 > 0:38:39with layers of geometric patterns,
0:38:39 > 0:38:43ornamentation and the use of Klimt's favourite material...
0:38:43 > 0:38:46gold.
0:38:46 > 0:38:47So the father was a goldsmith,
0:38:47 > 0:38:51and Klimt was used to working with gold.
0:38:51 > 0:38:55You can have the polished gold, you can work with leaf gold,
0:38:55 > 0:38:59whatever it is, you know, and with a shiny one, with not so shiny.
0:38:59 > 0:39:03Because he had the knowledge about the material, so he used it, yeah?
0:39:03 > 0:39:08So he was the only one who did it, more than also the pre-Raphaelites,
0:39:08 > 0:39:11because the pre-Raphaelites, they used the gold as well.
0:39:11 > 0:39:15But only in connection with saints, yeah?
0:39:15 > 0:39:17But Klimt changed it completely.
0:39:17 > 0:39:21Klimt worked with the idea of the icon. When you're entering
0:39:21 > 0:39:25a church, let's say in Russia or in Greece, with a lot of icons,
0:39:25 > 0:39:27you see those metallic pieces there.
0:39:27 > 0:39:32But painted is only the face and the hands.
0:39:32 > 0:39:35And this is what Gustav Klimt wanted to show, you know.
0:39:35 > 0:39:42He's focusing everything on the faces and on the hands.
0:39:42 > 0:39:45And that's it. And the rest is gold, and this makes it so famous,
0:39:45 > 0:39:49and when the tourists... The moment when they're entering the door here,
0:39:49 > 0:39:54it's still. It's quiet, and they're overwhelmed.
0:39:54 > 0:39:58It's definitely a kind of Klimt Church, which we have here.
0:39:58 > 0:40:01What's it like seeing this painting every day,
0:40:01 > 0:40:04as you do, in your professional capacity?
0:40:04 > 0:40:05Can you still see it?
0:40:05 > 0:40:08Has it become like the furniture for you?
0:40:08 > 0:40:11- Sometimes I really hate the painting...- Do you?
0:40:11 > 0:40:14..because you can see it everywhere, on the umbrella, everywhere,
0:40:14 > 0:40:16and I always feel as though
0:40:16 > 0:40:19there's something in the painting which I don't know,
0:40:19 > 0:40:24there is another secret which I didn't realise, and I have to work.
0:40:24 > 0:40:28It's always a confrontation between me and the painting.
0:40:28 > 0:40:30Every day I have these confrontations.
0:40:36 > 0:40:38Klimt almost never explained his paintings.
0:40:38 > 0:40:41He lived with his mother and his sister.
0:40:41 > 0:40:46He rarely courted the limelight, and never married.
0:40:46 > 0:40:49But although you might not take ol' Klimt for a lothario,
0:40:49 > 0:40:54oh, bless him, the sensuality and brazen sexuality of his work
0:40:54 > 0:40:56set tongues a-wagging.
0:41:05 > 0:41:07Klimt hardly ever painted men.
0:41:07 > 0:41:10And when he did, their faces were averted.
0:41:10 > 0:41:13He had countless lovers, and in the coffee shops of Vienna,
0:41:13 > 0:41:18they whispered about the young girls flitting through his studio.
0:41:18 > 0:41:22Of course Art Nouveau had a thing about bare girls and nymphs,
0:41:22 > 0:41:25but Klimt was obsessed with the female form.
0:41:31 > 0:41:34Some of his paintings and etchings were pure Viennese Viagra
0:41:34 > 0:41:38for a certain class of gentleman collector.
0:41:38 > 0:41:42In fact, in 1901, the Public Prosecutor of Vienna
0:41:42 > 0:41:46ordered the latest edition of Ver Sacrum to be seized
0:41:46 > 0:41:49and all copies found, destroyed.
0:41:59 > 0:42:02Fortunately, the court rejected the call
0:42:02 > 0:42:04to destroy Klimt's erotic sketches,
0:42:04 > 0:42:08and I've come to the storerooms of the Leopold museum
0:42:08 > 0:42:10to look under their mattress.
0:42:10 > 0:42:14I mean, to access some of Klimt's rarely displayed material.
0:42:18 > 0:42:20Tell me about this one, Maria.
0:42:20 > 0:42:25I'm sure this is one of those drawings which were created
0:42:25 > 0:42:28after Klimt has made love to her,
0:42:28 > 0:42:32because her expression is after orgasm.
0:42:32 > 0:42:35And this was unusual
0:42:35 > 0:42:39in that he's celebrating the female sexuality here?
0:42:39 > 0:42:45Yes, and that's what was perhaps shocking for his contemporaries.
0:42:45 > 0:42:48Female sexuality was a taboo
0:42:48 > 0:42:52and to show a face of a woman
0:42:52 > 0:42:57in this...very happy...
0:42:57 > 0:42:59- circumstances.- Orgasmic.
0:42:59 > 0:43:05Orgasmic, of course, you say it, was not usual to see in a picture.
0:43:05 > 0:43:09The spontaneous expression here in the drawing,
0:43:09 > 0:43:12you never find in the same way in the paintings.
0:43:16 > 0:43:19One of the few pronouncements that Klimt did make
0:43:19 > 0:43:23was that "all art is erotic".
0:43:23 > 0:43:27He's articulating one of the core beliefs of Art Nouveau,
0:43:27 > 0:43:30a movement that celebrated sensuality.
0:43:31 > 0:43:35And it's clear that Klimt idolised women,
0:43:35 > 0:43:37both sexually and aesthetically.
0:43:41 > 0:43:44But despite the flattering treatment,
0:43:44 > 0:43:47it sometimes seems that the women in his work are there
0:43:47 > 0:43:50as part of the artist's own decorative scheme,
0:43:50 > 0:43:55rather than as portraits of living, breathing individuals.
0:43:58 > 0:44:01And of course, from a feminist point of view,
0:44:01 > 0:44:08this is terrible, because he had a very male view on these girls,
0:44:08 > 0:44:13and he didn't respect their individuality.
0:44:13 > 0:44:18So, for the feminists, he is a terrible guy.
0:44:18 > 0:44:24But on the other hand, he is a great artist,
0:44:24 > 0:44:29and I think you cannot blame him personally for this attitude,
0:44:29 > 0:44:34because it was so typical for the time and for the atmosphere
0:44:34 > 0:44:38in which he lived, and in which he created his art.
0:44:42 > 0:44:44But with all this wanton sexuality,
0:44:44 > 0:44:50all these richly decorated portraits of smouldering society women,
0:44:50 > 0:44:53these opulent ornamental buildings
0:44:53 > 0:44:56stuffed with luxurious chairs and pepper pots,
0:44:56 > 0:45:02the sheer decadence of Art Nouveau made it ripe for criticism.
0:45:02 > 0:45:06And it was no longer just idiotic aristocrats
0:45:06 > 0:45:08whinging on about traditionalism.
0:45:08 > 0:45:11The era of mass production was well under way
0:45:11 > 0:45:14and urban life grew ever more anxious.
0:45:14 > 0:45:18Art Nouveau sceptics were emerging.
0:45:18 > 0:45:25And none more so than this man, the eccentric Adolf Loos.
0:45:25 > 0:45:27Loos was a vehement opponent of the Secession.
0:45:27 > 0:45:30He spent three years in the United States,
0:45:30 > 0:45:32and came back here to Vienna
0:45:32 > 0:45:36enthralled by their much more practical approach to design.
0:45:36 > 0:45:40He was a deep thinker and a man with a clever turn of phrase.
0:45:47 > 0:45:51Herr Loos wrote essays on every aspect of life.
0:45:53 > 0:45:58But his most influential writing was on architecture.
0:45:58 > 0:45:59In Ornament And Crime,
0:45:59 > 0:46:03he dismissed the Secessionists' idea of the craftsman as an artist,
0:46:03 > 0:46:06and he declared ornamentation "degenerate".
0:46:08 > 0:46:11In 1909, he finally got the chance
0:46:11 > 0:46:15to put these theories into practise, when he won a commission
0:46:15 > 0:46:17in the historic heart of Vienna.
0:46:20 > 0:46:24Get a load of this place. This is the Emperor's Hofburg Palace.
0:46:24 > 0:46:26And that's only the back door.
0:46:26 > 0:46:29One day a couple of tailors approached Adolf Loos and said,
0:46:29 > 0:46:33"Can you build us a new shop front? It's got to be opposite the palace."
0:46:33 > 0:46:35What would he come up with?
0:46:35 > 0:46:38How would he satisfy the curiosity of the Viennese
0:46:38 > 0:46:41for architecture with attitude?
0:46:41 > 0:46:43What would the man deliver?
0:46:43 > 0:46:46Da-na!
0:46:46 > 0:46:48Please yourselves.
0:46:51 > 0:46:53At first glance,
0:46:53 > 0:46:55you could be forgiven for wondering what all the fuss was about.
0:46:55 > 0:46:59But believe me, when it was first revealed in 1910,
0:46:59 > 0:47:02the Looshaus shocked Vienna.
0:47:02 > 0:47:05There was no traditional ornaments,
0:47:05 > 0:47:08no nude muscular heroes, no cherubs,
0:47:08 > 0:47:11but nor were there florid Art Nouveau patterns,
0:47:11 > 0:47:14gold, curling metal.
0:47:14 > 0:47:18To Viennese eyes, the building was naked.
0:47:21 > 0:47:24One wag dubbed it the house without eyebrows!
0:47:26 > 0:47:28That's probably funnier in German.
0:47:34 > 0:47:39Inside, the public areas of the shop combined mahogany,
0:47:39 > 0:47:44oak, brass and mirrors to stunning effect,
0:47:44 > 0:47:47while the work areas were more Spartan.
0:47:47 > 0:47:50Loos dismissed the idea of Gesamtkunstwerk.
0:47:50 > 0:47:53Real people didn't need a life surrounded by art, he said.
0:47:53 > 0:47:55What they needed were buildings
0:47:55 > 0:47:58that were primarily functional and simple,
0:47:58 > 0:48:02and any superfluous decoration was an old fashioned idea.
0:48:02 > 0:48:05Loos thought it was as savage as getting a tattoo.
0:48:07 > 0:48:10His definition of modern architecture
0:48:10 > 0:48:12was influential and compelling.
0:48:12 > 0:48:17Even the Secessionists' star architect seemed to concur.
0:48:19 > 0:48:23Otto Wagner, who originally designed buildings like this,
0:48:23 > 0:48:28ended up producing buildings like this one.
0:48:28 > 0:48:31The era of decoration was well and truly over.
0:48:38 > 0:48:42In the fine arts too, Art Nouveau was beginning to age.
0:48:43 > 0:48:48Nothing illustrates this better than the emergence in 1909
0:48:48 > 0:48:52of the enfant terrible of Viennese art, Egon Schiele.
0:48:52 > 0:48:55At first, Schiele seemed destined
0:48:55 > 0:48:57to be the next big thing in Art Nouveau.
0:48:59 > 0:49:01So, Frank, what are we going to see first?
0:49:01 > 0:49:02What have you got up your sleeve?
0:49:02 > 0:49:04Well, it's quite an interesting picture, really,
0:49:04 > 0:49:09cos although I would be the last to say it's a GOOD painting,
0:49:09 > 0:49:12it's a very young Schiele. He was 18 when he did it.
0:49:12 > 0:49:15It's called Stylised Flowers.
0:49:15 > 0:49:18I don't see that you can describe this picture at all
0:49:18 > 0:49:21without mentioning Art Nouveau or Jugendstil.
0:49:21 > 0:49:25He has turned everything into a decorative device.
0:49:25 > 0:49:27It's ornamental.
0:49:27 > 0:49:30But what's really interesting about it, it seems to me,
0:49:30 > 0:49:32is the evidence that it provides
0:49:32 > 0:49:35of his interest in what Klimt was doing.
0:49:35 > 0:49:37First of all, you've got a square format,
0:49:37 > 0:49:40of which Klimt himself was so fond.
0:49:40 > 0:49:43Secondly, we've got that central position in the painting.
0:49:43 > 0:49:47But then there's the final clincher, if you like,
0:49:47 > 0:49:51which is the use of gold and silver,
0:49:51 > 0:49:55actually IN the surface of the paint,
0:49:55 > 0:49:59which of course is taken directly from those paintings by Klimt.
0:49:59 > 0:50:02What was their relationship like, Frank?
0:50:02 > 0:50:05Well, Schiele would very much have liked it to be
0:50:05 > 0:50:09a kind of father/son relationship, but it was never that.
0:50:09 > 0:50:12Klimt obviously liked Schiele.
0:50:12 > 0:50:16He admired to an extent what Schiele was doing.
0:50:16 > 0:50:18He helped Schiele early in his career.
0:50:18 > 0:50:21Schiele, on the other hand, absolutely ADORED Klimt.
0:50:21 > 0:50:24So, Frank, is it the case with Schiele then,
0:50:24 > 0:50:26that he's got all these influences from Klimt,
0:50:26 > 0:50:28there's an Art Nouveau period,
0:50:28 > 0:50:32but then he's taking art onwards in some way?
0:50:32 > 0:50:33Very much so.
0:50:33 > 0:50:36And I suggest we look at a painting now,
0:50:36 > 0:50:42which will demonstrate that in maybe even a shocking way.
0:50:42 > 0:50:44Really, Frank? Well, we're both consenting adults.
0:50:44 > 0:50:46Let's have a look.
0:50:50 > 0:50:54- Lovemaking. Wow, that is quite full on, isn't it?- It is.
0:50:54 > 0:50:57You wouldn't know that was the same bloke.
0:50:57 > 0:50:58No.
0:50:58 > 0:51:01- And that, of course, is a self-portrait.- Really?
0:51:01 > 0:51:03The whole point about this really is
0:51:03 > 0:51:06that he makes himself look like a corpse
0:51:06 > 0:51:09and she looks like one of these rubber dolls that you...
0:51:09 > 0:51:12..well, not exactly rubber. But you know what I'm trying to say.
0:51:12 > 0:51:14- I have heard of them.- Yes.- Yes.
0:51:14 > 0:51:20He's dealing now with death, with melancholy,
0:51:20 > 0:51:22with extremes of all sorts.
0:51:22 > 0:51:25And he's also, of course, consciously dealing
0:51:25 > 0:51:29with what might be regarded as an impossible subject.
0:51:29 > 0:51:33He's using his work to express something
0:51:33 > 0:51:35which is beyond what you can see.
0:51:35 > 0:51:39What you can see is merely, as it were, the veil
0:51:39 > 0:51:43which is cast in front of the true message of the picture.
0:51:43 > 0:51:46Schiele is now, particularly in a painting like this,
0:51:46 > 0:51:49concerned with almost everything BUT the surface.
0:51:49 > 0:51:52Frank, where did Schiele's new direction
0:51:52 > 0:51:54and everything else that was happening associated with him,
0:51:54 > 0:51:56where did that leave Art Nouveau?
0:51:56 > 0:51:58Was it a bit old hat by now?
0:51:58 > 0:52:00It was just losing relevance
0:52:00 > 0:52:02and losing importance.
0:52:02 > 0:52:06And this sort of thing was becoming...
0:52:06 > 0:52:07..I won't say fashionable
0:52:07 > 0:52:10because it never became fashionable in the same way,
0:52:10 > 0:52:13but it was doing all the interesting new things
0:52:13 > 0:52:16which Art Nouveau had long since ceased to do.
0:52:21 > 0:52:24It was the end for beauty,
0:52:24 > 0:52:27for ornament, for decadence.
0:52:27 > 0:52:30Art Nouveau suddenly felt archaic,
0:52:30 > 0:52:34as egotistic Egon was happy to point out.
0:52:35 > 0:52:39It's called The Hermits, it's dated 1912.
0:52:39 > 0:52:42It shows Schiele,
0:52:42 > 0:52:47finally out of the Art Nouveau Jugendstil mould.
0:52:47 > 0:52:50- There's no going back from this point?- Oh, no. No going back.
0:52:50 > 0:52:53It looks as though Schiele is supporting
0:52:53 > 0:52:56the weight of Klimt on his shoulders.
0:52:56 > 0:52:58Klimt looks almost dead.
0:52:58 > 0:53:01And I think he's trying to tell us something.
0:53:01 > 0:53:03And what's he trying to tell us?
0:53:03 > 0:53:05- He's in charge now?- Yeah, yeah.
0:53:05 > 0:53:09There's poor old Klimt, on whom he used to rely,
0:53:09 > 0:53:11who's now relying on him.
0:53:12 > 0:53:16It's quite a bold, even arrogant, thing to be saying or painting?
0:53:16 > 0:53:20It certainly is, but Schiele was, in terms of modernism,
0:53:20 > 0:53:22that much further ahead than Klimt was.
0:53:22 > 0:53:25I do see Klimt as being, as it were,
0:53:25 > 0:53:28the end of something rather than the beginning of something.
0:53:28 > 0:53:33He belongs as much to the 19th century as to the 20th century.
0:53:33 > 0:53:36There's nowhere else really for him to go.
0:53:38 > 0:53:41The work of Schiele and Loos
0:53:41 > 0:53:44heralded the end for Viennese Art Nouveau.
0:53:44 > 0:53:50By 1918, Otto Wagner, Gustav Klimt and Koloman Moser were all dead,
0:53:50 > 0:53:54and the Austro-Hungarian empire had ceased to exist.
0:53:56 > 0:53:58There's an argument that the Art Nouveau
0:53:58 > 0:54:01that flourished on the banks of the Danube here
0:54:01 > 0:54:06wasn't a new wave, so much as the last eddies of the old.
0:54:06 > 0:54:09True, they banged on about being young.
0:54:09 > 0:54:12They were the Jugendstil, remember.
0:54:12 > 0:54:15And they dealt with trendy things like sex and psychology.
0:54:16 > 0:54:19But the whole design movement here
0:54:19 > 0:54:23remained essentially the plaything of the rich and the well-to-do,
0:54:23 > 0:54:26and they self-consciously turned their backs
0:54:26 > 0:54:30on the new means of production - industrial methods.
0:54:31 > 0:54:34After the stinging criticisms of Loos,
0:54:34 > 0:54:38the idea of paying a craftsman to spend ten days
0:54:38 > 0:54:43making you an egg cup or a stool seemed frankly laughable.
0:54:48 > 0:54:53With its decadence, decoration and luxurious prices,
0:54:53 > 0:54:54Art Nouveau is as much
0:54:54 > 0:54:57the last artistic flourish of the 19th century
0:54:57 > 0:55:01as it is the first of the 20th century.
0:55:01 > 0:55:05Perhaps it's no surprise that a stylistic movement
0:55:05 > 0:55:09founded around the idea of the new never fully matured.
0:55:10 > 0:55:12The style had bloomed in cities
0:55:12 > 0:55:17like Vienna, Paris, Brussels, Glasgow, Prague, Barcelona,
0:55:17 > 0:55:22and was built around a myriad of modern ideas about what art was for.
0:55:22 > 0:55:25But just a decade or so after its spectacular rise,
0:55:25 > 0:55:27it died out throughout the continent.
0:55:30 > 0:55:32With the advent of the First World War,
0:55:32 > 0:55:37Art Nouveau's international style was deemed unpatriotic, foreign,
0:55:37 > 0:55:41and disowned by both sides of the conflict.
0:55:41 > 0:55:44And by the 1920s, Adolf Loos's radical ideas
0:55:44 > 0:55:47inspired modernist movements like the Bauhaus
0:55:47 > 0:55:51to reject all decoration and embrace functionalism.
0:55:51 > 0:55:57Fine art was enthralled to Picasso, Cubism, Abstraction.
0:55:57 > 0:55:59For decades, Art Nouveau was dismissed
0:55:59 > 0:56:02by both modernists and traditionalists.
0:56:02 > 0:56:06Its buildings neglected, its art ignored.
0:56:06 > 0:56:11In fact, it wasn't until the 1960s that a new generation
0:56:11 > 0:56:17began to rediscover and celebrate European art's fin de siecle moment.
0:56:19 > 0:56:23And after so much darkness in 20th century Austria,
0:56:23 > 0:56:28celebrating the golden era of Klimt, Wagner, and the Wiener Werkstatte
0:56:28 > 0:56:32has become vitally important to the image of the city.
0:56:32 > 0:56:36Young couples snuggle up in front of The Kiss.
0:56:36 > 0:56:39Tourists learn the story of the Secession.
0:56:41 > 0:56:45And every day, thousands of Viennese commuters
0:56:45 > 0:56:48pass through Otto Wagner's sumptuous stations.
0:56:48 > 0:56:51A multi-million pound tourist industry
0:56:51 > 0:56:55is now built around the story of the Secessionists.
0:56:55 > 0:57:00Klimt, Hoffman, Wagner, Moser, and Schiele, take a bow.
0:57:03 > 0:57:05It strikes me that Viennese Art Nouveau
0:57:05 > 0:57:07was as much about artistic freedom
0:57:07 > 0:57:11as it was fancy buildings and naked ladies.
0:57:11 > 0:57:15"To every age its art, and to the art its freedom."
0:57:15 > 0:57:19A century on, that still sounds like a radical manifesto.
0:57:19 > 0:57:21And if we ever lose sight of that,
0:57:21 > 0:57:25well, then it really is Goodnight, Vienna.
0:57:27 > 0:57:31# Goodnight, Vienna
0:57:31 > 0:57:35# You city of a million melodies
0:57:35 > 0:57:38# Our hearts are thrilling to the strains that you play
0:57:38 > 0:57:42# From dawn till the daylight dies
0:57:42 > 0:57:46# Goodnight, Vienna
0:57:46 > 0:57:50# Where moonlight fills the air with mystery
0:57:50 > 0:57:53# And eyes are shining to the gypsy guitars
0:57:53 > 0:57:55# That sing to the starry sky. #
0:57:55 > 0:57:59Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd