Art Nouveau designates a decorative and architectural style developed in the 1880s and 1890s in the West. Born in reaction to the industrial revolution and to the creative vacuum left behind in its wake, Art Nouveau was at the heart of a "renaissance" in the decorative arts. The primary objective of the movement was the creation of a new aesthetic of Nature through a return to the study of natural subjects. In order to achieve this, such artists as Gustav Klimt, Koloman Moser, Antoni Gaudi, Jan Toorop, and William Morris favoured innovation in technique and novelty of forms.
