Ver Sacrum: Introduction

Ver Sacrum, which means Sacred Spring, was published in Vienna from 1898 to 1903 by the Vienna Sezession, a group of artists who favored an experimental approach to the arts. Ver Sacrum was one of the outstanding artistic and literary journals of its day. The editors sought to create unity on the printed page between the text, the typography and the ornamentation. Even advertisements were done in the distinctive Secessionist style.

Ver Sacrum’s literary contributors included distinguished figures such as Rainer Maria Rilke and Maurice Maeterlinck. The journal contained illustrations by the leading Viennese artist Gustav Klimt as well as other key figures such as Josef Hoffmann, Koloman Moser, Joseph Olbrich, and theatre designer Alfred Roller.

The Art Library is fortunate to have a complete run of Ver Sacrum, the finest of the Vienna art nouveau periodicals.