Small Table, design for the Café Museum, c. 1898

The refurbishment of Café Museum at Operngasse 7 was to be carried out by the Wagner pupil Max Fabiani (1865–1962), but he ceded the project to Adolf Loos (1870–1933). This provided the young Loos with the first proper opportunity to publicly implement his puristic principles. The Viennese coffeehouse – a historico-cultural topos par excellence – received its new prototype. Rather than providing the often-cited atmosphere of an “extended living room” for the Viennese bourgeoisie, Loos created a highly sober ambiance which elicited praise and resentment in equal measure after the café’s opening in April 1899. The establishment soon became a popular meeting place among artists and writers, while the bentwood chairs, marble table tops and especially the light bulbs without lampshades earned it the sobriquet “Café Nihilism”.

Text Leopold Museum