Art nouveau – an expression of “decadence” in European art at the end of 19th century

Pokidchenko Irina

The article discusses the concept of "decadence," as one of the characteristics of European culture at the end of 19th - early 20th century. This concept is widely used in the literature, but doesn't have unambiguous definition in contemporary cultural science. The author suggests interpretation of "decadence" as a romanticism in the late 19th century. Since the phenomenon of "decadence" covers different sides of European culture in the late 19th century, the article details the art, as one of its components. The author examines in detail the style of "modern" as a manifestation of "decadence." The article defines the place of the style "modern", among other art styles of the late 19th century on the grounds of belonging to the "decadence." For the culture of the late 19th century was characterized by diversity and frequent changes of different artistic styles, which are often generalize when describing the culture of the late 19th century as "decadence". In contrast, the article is delimited affiliation of individual styles of the period to the different areas, in particular the style of "modern" are opposed to, and preceding Impressionism successor "avant-garde".

Keywords:culturology, art, art nouveau, decadence, impressionism, avant-garde, romanticism, symbolism, naturalism, aestheticism, dandyism, rationalism