Art Nouveau, whose emergence at the same time as cinema was no mere coincidence, represents the most remarkable attempt to reconcile the demands of the technical age with the undying wish for beauty and glorification – or to pit the one against the other.Under the title `Art Nouveau – Utopia: Reconciling the Irreconcilable` the reform movement of the turn of the century is not only dealt with as an artistic event, but those economic and political interests which inspired, supported and handicapped it arealso taken into account. In the chapters `Movement`, `Unrest` and `Equilibrium` the historical phenomenon as a whole is characterised and is also presented with its own distinct local features.