Poster for the 2nd Exhibition of the Vienna Secession, 1898

Joseph Maria Olbrich (1867–1908) is now primarily known as the architect of the exhibition pavilion of the Vienna Secession at Friedrichstraße 2 – an iconic Jugendstil building. The exhibition hall opened in late 1898 and is located on the banks of the canalized Wien River, opposite the Naschmarkt and the Baroque building of the Karlskirche. Maybe Olbrich was inspired to conceptualize the pavilion’s facade with a golden cupola by the court architect’s design of the church’s famous cupola. His soujourn in North Africa – Olbrich had won the Prix de Rome at the Vienna Academy of Fine Arts in 1893 – might be another possible source of inspiration for his combination of a flat roof and a cupola. The poster for the 2nd Exhibition of the Vienna Secession celebrated the building, which was completed in only six months. The whitewashed walls were intended to symbolize purity and festivity, while the golden cupola and the ornaments alluded to the building’s role as “temple of the arts”.

Text Leopold Museum