Art Nouveau

The artists of the Art Nouveau movement sought an ideal of beauty that was based on the study and the stylization of nature. In La Chaux-de-Fonds, Art Nouveau was imported at the end of the nineteenth century by influential owners of watchmaking firms and by their commercial representatives. This new trend, which was fashionable in all the European capitals, was enthusiastically adopted by the inhabitants of the Watchmaking Metropolis, and stained glass windows, tiles, decorated stairwells, stucco work, wood carvings and wrought iron took new buildings by storm.