Blazing a trail for the art of his age, he was a founding member of the Vienna Secession and, together with the architect Josef Hoffmann and the industrialist Fritz Wärndorfer, he established the Wiener Werkstätte in 1903. The objective of this collective of fine artists was to realize the or total work of art at the highest caliber of arts and crafts. Some 400 objects, presented systematically and explained with essays, open up a new perspective on his impressive oeuvre.