More than a thousand objects from the MAK in Vienna and from international collections present the utopian vision of the Wiener Werkstätte, the “Viennese Workshop” of the decorative arts, which gave us the Stoclet House here in Brussels. Gesamtkunstwerk ? total work of art, by the score!

In the first decades of the 20th century the Wiener Werkstätte set themselves the objective of reconciling the fine and applied arts, of disseminating art throughout all aspects of life, and of taking the same pains with the simplest objects of everyday life as with works of art.

The leading lights, Josef Hoffmann and Kolo Moser, inspired and led a group of artists that distinguished itself in every creative domain. The exhibition offers an in-depth analysis of the designs and solutions put forward in response to the needs of early 20th-century society. The finest example of a total work of art produced by the Wiener Werkstätte is unquestionably the Palais Stoclet in Brussels, the most remarkable collective work of international art nouveau. So it is only right and proper to place the Palais Stoclet in the foreground of this exhibition. The contemporary artist Heimo Zobernig is creating an exceptional scenography for the exhibition, in dialogue and in harmony with the architecture of the Centre for Fine Arts.