Furnishing your home in Art Nouveau style: the mini guide

The Belle Epoque still exercises an irresistible appeal to those who allow themselves to be seduced by the infinite artistic and cultural prolificacy that depopulated between the last twenty years of the 1800s and the first decades of the 1900s. From architecture to literature, every form of art experienced a golden period, influencing the lifestyle of the new bourgeois class. Luxury and refinement were the prerogatives of living at the time and still live on in the art nouveau furniture that never goes out of fashion and keeps up with the most modern and contemporary trends.

If you want to relive the exotic suggestions of Alfons Mucha's drawings or the refined atmospheres of Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, find out how to furnish your home in Art Nouveau style with this little guide by the experts from Engel & Volkers Treviso.

LIBERTY STYLE FURNITURE: THEMES AND SUBJECTS

Better known in the rest of Europe as Art Nouveau, the Art Nouveau style established itself in Italy towards the end of the nineteenth century as a reaction to the negative consequences of the industrialization process, suggesting a return to nature and a healthier lifestyle. It is no coincidence that all forms of figurative art inspired by this new philosophy are characterized by bucolic and floral themes: from the architecture of the interiors to the small accessories, precious and refined decorations predominate in the liberty furniture, depicting flowers, leaves, plants, bunches of grapes and tree embroidery. There are also feminine subjects, sinuous and brightly colored, inserted in bucolic contexts. These subjects embellish the interiors, adorning not only ceilings, walls, railings and windows, but also furniture with more sophisticated inlays and decorations.

What should not be missing in a house with a renovated Art Nouveau interior? Majestic floral-themed boiserie to enhance the living area or to frame the sleeping area.

SHAPES AND MATERIALS

Furnishing a house in Art Nouveau style presupposes a preference for more sinuous and softer shapes: both in the choice of decorations for the interiors, as for the furnishings and accessories, everything tends towards rounded and not very angular lines that recall the world of nature.As for the choice of materials, for the furniture and finishes, go ahead with wood, more usually in dark tones, wrought iron and colored glass, because they are well suited to be worked and decorated, as well as to be combined with each other.

FURNITURE AND FURNISHINGS

Whether it's a modern Art Nouveau house or a renovated one, the watchword is refinement. To guide the choice of furniture and furnishings is the rule of less is more, favoring a few precious pieces but of sure visual impact, where decorations and inlays are the masters. From large mirrors with frames decorated with leaves to tables with legs and decorations that recall floral motifs, without forgetting seats with brocade padding and precious fabrics. To furnish your home in Art Nouveau style, ample space is also left to furnishing accessories, with pre-eminence of clocks with an irresistible retro taste, finely crafted bedside lamps, sumptuous curtains, cushions and carpets, preferably with a floral theme. Just be careful not to overdo it, paying the utmost care in the combinations and never losing sight of the harmony of the whole.

LIGHTING FOR A LIBERTY-STYLE HOME

If this is the style you like, Engel & Volkers has in its catalog several houses for sale in Treviso where the liberty influence reigns supreme. Here natural light is the real protagonist. For this reason, one of the predominant features is the presence of large stained glass windows on the facades, which reproduce the shapes and subjects dear to this artistic current. One of the tips for decorating your home in Art Nouveau style is to leave the right space for natural lighting, allowing yourself to play with light and refractions with partitions and colored glass doors. The artificially powered lighting points should not be neglected, preferring chandeliers and lampshades in glass and wrought iron with bright colors and refined motifs.

Ready to discover Treviso and its beautiful liberty style houses? The dream home is one step away from you.