The artistic stagnation of Vienna at the end of the nineteenth century was rudely shaken by the artists of the Secession. Their works at first shocked a conservative public; but their successive exhibitions, their magazine "Ver Sacrum", and their application to the applied arts and architecture soon brought them an enthusiastic following and wealthy patronage. This book traces the course of this development, of the Wiener Werkstatte that followed, and the individual works of the artists concerned. Klimt, Olbrich, Loos and Hoffmann in architecture and applied arts. In other fields Mahler, Freud and Schnitzler were influencing the avant-garde. Peter Vergo quotes extensively from the writings of contemporary reviewers, critics and the artists themselves. He has eye-witness accounts of the exhibitions, the opening of the Secession building, the work in progress on the Palais Stoclet and Kabarett Fledermaus. The result is a documentary study of the successes and failures, hopes and fears of the members of an artistic movement which is still admired today.