Study for the Cover of “Ver Sacrum” (1891)

Koloman Moser is considered one of the most important pioneers of Viennese Modernism, one of the most influential artists of Viennese Art Nouveau, and is—alongside Gustav Klimt and Josef Hoffmann—one of the leading artists of Vienna’s artistic renewal. His oeuvre continues to exert a lasting fascination. As a universal artist Moser mastered the disciplines of painting, graphic art, arts and crafts, and interior design as well as fashion and scenography. To an impressive extent Moser embodies the Gesamtkunstwerk or total work of art as advocated by the Vienna Secession.

Ver Sacrum (meaning “Sacred Spring” in Latin) was the official magazine of the Vienna Secession. Founded by Gustav Klimt and Max Kurzweil, it was published from 1898 to 1903, featuring drawings and designs in the Secession style along with literary contributions from distinguished writers from across Europe. These included Rainer Maria Rilke, Hugo von Hofmannsthal, Maurice Maeterlinck, Knut Hamsun, Otto Julius Bierbaum, Richard Dehmel, Ricarda Huch, Conrad Ferdinand Meyer, Josef Maria Auchentaller and Arno Holz.

Koloman Moser’s work has been offered at auction multiple times, the record price being $841,459 USD for Two Works: Feldeinsamkeit, sold at Im Kinsky in 2020.