The Secession - Vienna

For more than 100 years, the Vienna Secession has been an important centre for art and architecture. Shows and exhibitions by contemporary artists have constantly contributed to the public discourse on art.

The wonderful Beethoven Frieze by Gustav Klimt, in the building’s basement, is today seen as one of the key works in the artist’s development, although at the time it was as controversial as the Secession itself. The imaginative, monumental and sometimes distressing narrative stretches over three painted walls and is based on Richard Wagner’s interpretation of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony.

The magnificent building, with its golden “cabbage dome” was supposed to complement the Ringstraße buildings, but the Municipal Council only granted permission for the erection after the site was transferred to a plot on Friedrichstrasse. The architect, 30-year-old Joseph Maria Olbrich, has designed the building, which now represents an icon of Viennese Jugendstil (Art Nouveau).

Vienna Secession, Association of Visual Artists
Friedrichstraße 12
1010 Vienna
Austria
T.: 0043 1 587 53 07
office@secession.at

Opening Hours
Tuesday - Sunday: 10.00 a.m. – 6.00 p.m.

For further information, please visit: www.secession.at