Tourist attractions in Vienna : Secession

The Secession Building is an exhibition hall built in 1898 by Joseph Maria Olbrich as an architectural manifesto for the Vienna Secession. The Vienna Secession (also known as the Union of Austrian Artists) was formed on 3 April 1897 by a group of Austrian artists such as Gustav Klimt, Koloman Moser, Josef Hoffmann, Joseph Maria Olbrich, and others, who had resigned from the Association of Austrian Artists, housed in the Vienna Künstlerhaus. This movement included painters, sculptors, and architects. The Secession artists objected to the prevailing conservatism of the Vienna Künstlerhaus with its traditional orientation toward Historicism. They hoped to create a new style that owed nothing to historical influence.

Photo by Groume

The Secession members commissioned the hardly 30-year-old architect Joseph Maria Olbrich, who was at the time a member of Otto Wagner's atelier, to design the building, which was to become a key work of Viennese Art Nouveau. The cornerstone was laid on 28 April 1898 within the framework of a small celebration. Only six months later, on 29 October 1898, the construction was complete. The exhibition building, simply known as "the Secession" (die Sezession) became an icon of the movement.

Photo by marcella bona

Photo by Michela Simoncini

Photo by KLMircea

Along with painters and sculptors, there were several prominent architects who became associated with The Vienna Secession. During this time, architects focused on bringing purer geometric forms into the designs of their buildings. The three main architects of this movement were Josef Hoffmann, Joseph Maria Olbrich, and Otto Wagner. Secessionist architects often decorated the surface of their buildings with linear ornamentation in a form commonly called whiplash or eel style.

Photo by piotr ilowiecki

Photo by marcella bona

Photo by scook48227

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). The entrance area is decorated by the masks of the three Gorgons, which symbolize architecture, sculpture and painting. The side elevations also feature owls that were formed by Olbrich himself (to the designs of Kolo Moser). The Gorgons and the owl are attributes of Pallas Athene, the goddess of wisdom, victory and the crafts. 

The Beethoven Frieze ((c) Österreich Werbung, Trumler)

The Beethoven Frieze ((c) Österreich Werbung, Trumler)

The building features the Beethoven Frieze, one of the most widely recognized artworks of Secession style (a branch of Art Nouveau, also known as Jugendstil), which was painted by Gustav Klimt for the 14th Vienna Secessionist exhibition in 1902. Today, a total of about 20 exhibitions take place in the Vienna Secession (in the Main Hall, Gallery, Graphic Cabinet and Ver Sacrum Room) each year. 


Text Source: wikipedia.org  and  secession.at