By tracing the origin of Art Nouveau in Paris and explaining how the movement developed and spread across the continent, the “Art Nouveau Revival” exhibition in Musée d’Orsay displays a collection of works that best epitomize the different phases of the movement.

The Art Nouveau movement started at the turn of the nineteenth century, but it was met with decades of rejection until the 1960s. The original movement was a reaction against historicism and traditional art in favor of a new style and form that adapted itself to modern life, blurring of boundaries between fine arts and applied arts, and combining the new aesthetics with functionalism. The new aesthetics were characterized by the use of organic floral styles and curved lines as ornamentation in furniture, jewelry and tableware. Originally termed in Paris as “new art,” Art Nouveau took on different names as its influence spread across Europe and to the United States: Jugendstil in Germany, Stile Liberty or Stile Floreale in Italy, Modernismo in Spain, and Nieuwe Kunst in Holland. 

>more