Art Nouveau is an international style of art, architecture and applied art, especially the decorative arts. It was a reaction against the academic art of 19th century architecture and decoration. It was often inspired by natural forms such as the sinuous curves of plants and flowers. The Art Nouveau had a sense of dynamism and movement, often given by asymmetry or “whiplash” curves, and the use of modern materials, particularly iron, glass, ceramics and later concrete, to create unusual forms and larger open spaces.

The Leaders of Art Nouveau:

Whiplash was a very distinctive style that was present in the artworks during the Art Nouveau style. The rhythmic curves and lines provides a sense of dynamics and motions in the still art. It was a flick of the wrist, a sensuous curve, a freedom from restraint, and its sinuous flowing line is considered a metaphor for artistic freedom.

I believe that the reason why the movement was so widely spread and explored was because it symbolizes unrestricted freedom the artists were trying to achieved during that period of mass production and rigid academic art. This style breaks away from artistic norms and traditional expectations. As the First World War encroached, opulence and ornament were shunned in favour of sleeker, mass-produced forms. But its avant-garde originality would still influence designers and artists for decades to come.