Austrian architect and co-founder of the Vienna Secession, Olbrich is one of the masters of Art Nouveau. He designed the Secession Building in Vienna (1897–1898) and went on to develop an artists' colony in Darmstadt from 1899.
Joseph Maria Olbrich(1867 — 1908)
Josef Maria Olbrich
grand-duché de Hesse, Cisleithanie
7 min read
Frequently asked questions
Key Facts
- 1867: born in Troppau (Opava, in present-day Czech Republic)
- 1897: co-founded the Vienna Secession with Gustav Klimt and Josef Hoffmann
- 1897–1898: designed the Secession Building in Vienna, an iconic landmark of Art Nouveau
- 1899: invited by Grand Duke Ernst Ludwig to Darmstadt to create the Mathildenhöhe artists' colony
- 1908: died prematurely in Düsseldorf at the age of 40
Works & Achievements
Iconic building of the Viennese Secessionist movement, with its golden laurel dome and geometric white façade adorned with plant motifs. Designed in under a year by a 30-year-old architect, it immediately drew 57,000 visitors to its first exhibition.
Central building of the Mathildenhöhe artists' colony, serving as a collective workspace for the artists invited by the Grand Duke. Olbrich applied the principle of *Gesamtkunstwerk* here to an avant-garde communal architecture.
Olbrich's personal residence at the Mathildenhöhe, conceived as a living manifesto of his aesthetic principles. It combines a fully decorated interior, bespoke furniture, and a harmoniously integrated garden.
One of the private villas of the Darmstadt colony, commissioned by merchant Julius Glückert. A remarkable example of Olbrich's style applied to bourgeois residential architecture, combining comfort and Art Nouveau ornamentation.
A private villa in the outskirts of Vienna and one of Olbrich's first major residential commissions. It demonstrates his early mastery of Art Nouveau aesthetics applied to the bourgeois home.
Olbrich's last major project, commissioned to celebrate the wedding of Grand Duke Ernst Ludwig. Its five distinctive "fingers" have made it the symbol of the city of Darmstadt; the entire Mathildenhöhe complex was inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2021.
Anecdotes
At just 30 years old, Olbrich designed the Secession Building in Vienna in 1897–1898. The building, crowned with a dome of 3,000 gilded wrought-iron laurel leaves, was immediately nicknamed “the golden cabbage” by the ironic Viennese. Yet this bold work became the international symbol of artistic renewal in the face of official academicism.
Above the entrance of the Secession Building, Olbrich had the movement’s founding motto engraved: “Der Zeit ihre Kunst, der Kunst ihre Freiheit” — “To every age its art, to every art its freedom.” Proposed by the critic Ludwig Hevesi, this phrase summed up the ambition of the Secessionists, who refused the rules imposed by the Viennese artistic establishment.
In 1899, Grand Duke Ernst Ludwig of Hesse invited Olbrich to Darmstadt to build an artists’ colony on the Mathildenhöhe hill. Olbrich designed nearly all of its buildings, transforming an ordinary hillside into a laboratory of modern art. The inaugural exhibition of 1901, “Ein Dokument deutscher Kunst,” attracted visitors from across Europe and established Olbrich as a leading figure of the new architecture.
The Wedding Tower (Hochzeitsturm) in Darmstadt, Olbrich’s last major work, was inaugurated on June 24, 1908. Less than two months later, on August 8, Olbrich died of leukemia in Düsseldorf, at just 40 years old. This tower with its characteristic five-fingered crown, inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2021, remains the city’s emblem and its creator’s architectural testament.
Primary Sources
A collection of drawings and architectural projects published by Olbrich himself, presenting his villas, interiors, and ornamental decorations, accompanied by brief notes on his artistic intentions and his relationship to plant-based forms.
A monthly arts journal to which Olbrich contributed drawings and decorative projects. It proclaimed: "We recognize no distinction between high art and minor art, between art for the rich and art for the poor."
The official catalogue of the inaugural exhibition of the Darmstadt Artists' Colony, in which Olbrich presents his houses and his principles of the Gesamtkunstwerk as applied to residential and community architecture.
A serial publication of Olbrich's major projects, gathering plans, elevations, and photographs of his Viennese and Darmstadt works, distributed among professional circles across Europe.
Key Places
Olbrich's birthplace, a major industrial and cultural city in Austrian Silesia. He spent his childhood there before moving to Vienna to study architecture.
Olbrich's masterpiece, completed in 1898, and the headquarters of the Viennese Secession movement. Still standing today, it is one of the most iconic monuments of European Art Nouveau and continues to host contemporary art exhibitions.
The hill where Olbrich began building an artists' colony in 1899, commissioned by Grand Duke Ernst Ludwig of Hesse. There he created the Ernst Ludwig House, his own studio-home, and the Wedding Tower — an ensemble inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2021.
The institution where Olbrich received his architectural training before joining Otto Wagner's studio, where he was introduced to the principles of an architecture that was both functional and ornamental.
The city where Olbrich died on 8 August 1908 from leukemia while overseeing construction projects. He was buried there before his remains were transferred to Darmstadt.
