Ferdinand Hodler, Blick ins Unendliche III, 1903/04 © Musée cantonal des Beaux-Arts de Lausanne. Erworben 1994, Foto: Musée cantonal des Beaux-Arts de Lausanne
In the late 19th century, criticism of the materialism of industrialized society began to emerge. Many sought a new, nature-oriented way of life. Friedrich Nietzsche’s writings were avidly read, and Richard Wagner’s opera Parsifal was interpreted as a pacifist manifesto. The “painter prince” Hans Makart depicted scenes from the Ring des Nibelungen. Karl Wilhelm Diefenbach—a devoted admirer of Wagner, artist-prophet, and nudist—founded a rural commune near Vienna in 1897. The Vienna Secessionists embraced Wagner’s ideal of the Gesamtkunstwerk (total work of art).

For the first time in Vienna, a major exhibition examines the search for the “New Human” without ignoring the darker aspects of magical thinking. In this sense, the project Hidden Modernism also contributes to a critique of the present.