Art Nouveau

When the Art Nouveau movement started in 1890, Europe was in a period of peace and prosperity. This led up to a growth of new and experimental directions in design. The sources of inspiration for this design were flowers, birds, vines, and insects. The designers during this time were also admired by Japanese art and the famous paintings of Van Gogh, Edvard Munch, Gauguin, and Aubrey Beardsley.
The leaders of the Art Nouveau movement were Belgium and France. Some characteristics established by them were rejection of Victorian styles, design style based on nature, use of modern materials for that time period (iron and glass), modern techniques, electric lighting, and using the relationship of fine arts which included paintings and sculptures.
This movement also used curvilinear forms as a dominate design. An example that was used a majority of the time was a design called whiplash. One icon during the Art Nouveau movement was Victor Horta. He was a Belgian architect, designer and teacher. His work was very extensive in this movement and the most influential during this period by using iron railings and hardware, stenciled walls and ceiling patterns, and mosaic tile patterns on the floors, walls and ceilings.

In modern day: