Modern: Klimt, Gaudí, Mucha

At the end of the 19th century, in various parts of Europe, a young and energetic generation of designers and artists aimed to rid themselves of historicism and eclecticism, which had dominated art for almost half a century, and to create a new distinctive style, a new artistic form that would correspond to modernity. These attempts were most successful in the fields of architecture, interior design, applied arts, book design, poster art, and, of course, painting. The new movement in art came to be known as modernism. There were many artists, architects, and designers who represented the modernist style in European art and American art. Among the most famous are the Czech theater artist and illustrator Alphonse Mucha, the renowned Austrian painter Gustav Klimt, and perhaps the most original Spanish architect Antonio Gaudí.