As every year at the beginning of spring, we announce the theme of the year.
This year’s Art Nouveau Days are dedicated to the image without which this style is impossible to imagine — the Woman.
Art Nouveau (Secession, Modern) emerged at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries as the art of a new era. It sought the renewal of forms, the synthesis of the arts, and the integration of beauty into everyday life. The female image became its central symbol. Flowing lines, wavy hair, and floral motifs that seem to extend the movement of the body — within this aesthetic, woman embodied nature, life, creativity, and the very idea of renewal.
In painting, graphic art, sculpture, and architectural decoration, the female figure appears multifaceted: as a muse and source of inspiration; as an allegory of art, spring, and freedom; as the modern urban woman of a new century — emancipated, educated, and confident; as a mythological or symbolic figure uniting the earthly and the fantastic.
Thus, this year we will explore Art Nouveau through the prism of women’s stories. We will speak about women artists, patrons, and female property owners; examine the symbolism of the female image in ornament and architectural sculpture; and rethink how modernism shaped a new vision of women’s roles in society.
About the woman as a symbol of an era that aspired to change and created an art that continues to captivate us with its beauty today.
