All architecture movements throughout history spur from shifts in society that demand a new style that better reflects the way that technology has advanced the practice and how people express their political, religious, and moral beliefs and practices. While some shifts occur over a period of several years, others are experienced as a sudden revolt. The Vienna Secession was undoubtedly the latter. At the end of the 19th century, a group of artists and architects aimed to explore what art should be as it pertained to filtering global influences in a way that could introduce new modernism.
During this time, Europe was undergoing a renaissance, as empires collapsed, new countries and governments emerged, new discoveries in sciences and technologies thrust society into a new world. However, as architecture tends to be a lagging trend, many designers and artists felt that the ambiguity of what this era would bring would remain if significant action was not taken. In 1897, a group of well-known Austrian creatives, including Koloman Moser, Joseph Maria Olbrich, and Gustav Klimt resigned from their posts at the Association of Austrian Artists. It established the Union of Austrian Artists, known as Vereinigung Bildender Künstler Österreichs, or the Vienna Secession. Their goal was to break conservative traditions that rooted themselves in history and create an internationalist, all-encompassing view of artistic genres that was both contemporary and timeless.
