Around 1900, young visionary artists in Munich set out to revolutionize art and to reform life. Facing a time of rapid scientific as well as technological innovation and social upheaval, they joined the quest for a fairer and more sustainable way of life. Artists such as Richard Riemerschmid, Hermann Obrist, and Margarethe von Brauchitsch turned their backs on historical styles to create a new art that permeated life down to the smallest detail. Their ideas formed the foundation for modern art and design. With design objects, sculptures, paintings, graphic art, and photography, fashion and jewelry, this exhibition sheds light on Munich’s role as the cradle of Jugendstil (Art Nouveau) in Germany and demonstrates how topical the issues of life discussed back then still are today.

Munich’s reputation as a cosmopolitan cultural metropolis with exceptional opportunities in terms of training and exhibiting attracted artists from all over Europe at the end of the 19th century. It was in this climate of openness to innovation that the magazine Jugend (Youth) appeared from 1896 onwards, its program dedicated to all sectors of life. Soon, it would become the eponym for the new movement. The magazine’s colorful covers, which were designed in a different style each issue by Richard Riemerschmid, Bruno Paul, and Hans Christiansen, among others, illustrate that Jugendstil (the German term for Art Nouveau literarily means ‘Youth Style’) was not a uniform artistic movement. Rather, it becomes clear that the artists associated with the movement engaged with the major issues of their time by varied aesthetic means. In ten chapters, Jugendstil. Made in Munich presents the pioneering ideas and sources of inspiration from which the artists who trained or worked in Munich developed their respective styles. Aspects such as gender equality, a healthy life in harmony with nature, and the democratization of art and society form the backdrop against which the exhibition unfolds.