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Culture and Art
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Synthesis of religious and mythological motifs in the visual arts of the Vienna Secession. Decadence as a blurring of intra-cultural boundaries

Cherkasov Danila Sergeevich

ORCID: 0009-0009-6838-6847

Postgraduate student, Art History Department, Saint Petersburg Stieglitz State Academy of Art and Design

191028, Russia, Saint Petersburg, Solyanoi, 13

cherk-danila@yandex.ru

DOI:

10.7256/2454-0625.2024.4.69933

EDN:

UXZGOA

Received:

21-02-2024


Published:

06-05-2024


Abstract: The subject of the study is one of the features of the iconography of the artists of the Viennese Secession, namely the mixing in one work of elements belonging to different cultural traditions, and the use of the Nietzschean concept of decadence (primarily presented by the philosopher in his work "Casus Wagner") to understand the reasons for such a misplacement of boundaries. The author pays special attention to the combination of elements of Christian cult and ancient Greek and Roman mythology in one work (as in the cases of the "Beethoven Frieze" by G. Klimt or such works by M. Klinger as the sculpture of Beethoven for the 1902 Secession exhibition and the monumental canvas "Christ on Olympus"). Another aspect of the above-mentioned cultural mixing was the blurring of the boundary between the fantastic and the real, which is especially evident in such a work as "Self-Portrait with a Mermaid" by K. Moser.  The main method of this work is the iconographic analysis of works of art in the collections of museums in Vienna. The conclusion of the article is that the artists of the Vienna Secession, who worked in the last years of the existence of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, which was disintegrating due to many factors, despite their desire to create a new artistic language capable of uniting the peoples of the collapsing country, reflected the destruction of the social order surrounding them in their works. Decadence, which F. Nietzsche associates with the disintegration of a single whole and the loss of hierarchical relationships in favor of individual individuals, released the creative energy of an entire generation of Austrian artists who created their works, ignoring the boundaries that existed before between secular and religious and, as a result, between Christian and pagan, real and imaginary. The novelty of this study lies in the use of special optics, the core of which is the phenomenon of decadence. Through this prism, it is possible to consider the legacy of the Vienna Secession not as a regional vesrion of European art nouveau or the forerunner of twentieth-century modernism, but as part of a different stream of cultural phenomena permeating the culture of Europe of the XIX-XX centuries, not bound by strict stylistic (art nouveau) or iconographic (symbolism) restrictions.


Keywords:

decadence, art nouveau, symbolism, Austro-Hungary, Gustav Klimt, Koloman Moser, painting, myphological imageries, religious art, Vienna

This article is automatically translated.

This article will focus on the interpenetration of Christian and mythological motifs in the work of artists of the Vienna Secession. This association played a major role in the art of the turn of the XIX-XX centuries, spreading its influence from New York to Shanghai [1, p. 91] and was the forerunner of many important artistic movements for the twentieth century. However, many researchers consider the artistic heritage of this creative union as the forerunner of modernism [2, p. 64; 3, p. 282], not noticing (or not wanting to notice) the iconographic eclecticism inherent in the decadent aesthetic paradigm under the formal novelty [4, p. 38].

Many scientific works are devoted to the work of the masters of the Vienna Secession, one of the most outstanding among them is the monumental study by K.E. Shorske, describing the cultural and political landscape of the fin de si cle of Vienna [3]. P. Vargo's book has a similar theme, but with a greater emphasis on the personalities of artists [5]. There is a clear imbalance among the creators of the Vienna Secession in the amount of attention paid to them. While the creative biographies of G. Klimt [6-8] and E. Schiele [9,10] have been studied in great detail, and many exhibitions are devoted to them (e.g.. [11],[12]), other artists, such as the sculptor Otmar Shimkovitz or A. Roller, are deprived of the attention of researchers. Of course, light is gradually being shed on the legacy of these masters, an example of which is the large–scale exhibition of K. Moser in Vienna in 2019, accompanied by a catalog [13]. Despite the research of the topic and the fewer and fewer "white spots" in the history of the association, this article offers a new interpretation of the artistic heritage of the Secession, introducing it into the context of European decadence at the turn of the XIX-XX centuries, and recognizing decadence as a separate vector of the evolution of Western art associated with symbolism, modernity and modernism, but identical to them[i].

In the beginning, it is worth defining the concept of "decadence". As Charles Bernheimer, a major researcher on this topic, put it: "for more than 20 years I have been studying decadence and reading literature considered decadent, but I still do not understand what it is" [15, p. 3]. Indeed, it is incredibly difficult to define decadence as a cultural phenomenon, since it consists of paradoxes: it is attractive and dangerous; liberating, but perhaps excessively; joyful, but perverted and destructive.

The German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche, who considers the problem of decadence one of the most important for his time, simultaneously considers it both a tendency that must be overcome and a property inherent in any society in small quantities. In decadence, Nietzsche sees a potential collapse for both society and art, formulating it as follows: "What characterizes every literary decadence? The fact that the whole is no longer imbued with life. The word becomes sovereign and jumps out of the sentence, the sentence comes forward and obscures the meaning of the page, the page gets life at the expense of the whole - the whole is no longer the whole. But here is what is the image and likeness for any style of decadence: every time anarchy of atoms, segregation of the will, "freedom of the individual", in the language of morality, and if we develop this into a political theory – "equal rights for all"" [16]. Thus, F. Nietzsche, one of the most influential philosophers for art at the turn of the century, sees the main property of decadence in the loss of integrity due to greater autonomy of parts, the absence of hierarchy. At the turn of the XIX-XX centuries, this decadent "anarchy" contributed to the blurring of invisible boundaries that existed within culture, separating, among other things, religious subjects from mythological, and fantastic subjects from realistic ones, and gave rise to the desire for the synthesis of heterogeneous elements characteristic of modern art.

Both of these aspirations – to overcome boundaries and to synthesis, found their embodiment in the program of the Vienna Secession, which was broadcast through the official press organ of the association – the magazine Ver Sacrum. The artists of the Secession considered one of their main tasks to be the creation, i.e. synthesis, of a new language of art, which, according to the secessionists, was supposed to help overcome ethnic, linguistic and religious barriers [3, p. 310] that existed in the Austro-Hungarian Empire, which was living out its last decades[ii].

An example of erasing the line that separated the real world from the mythological or fantastic world and the synthesis of these two incompatible worlds is the painting by Coloman Moser (1868-1918) "Self-portrait with a Mermaid" (circa 1914, Leopold Museum, Vienna), painted in the last years of the artist's life. Two preparatory sketches were made for the painting – a self–portrait and an image of a mermaid (both circa 1914, Leopold Museum, Vienna), and subsequently the author "combines" these two images, creating a scene of his meeting with a mysterious underwater inhabitant.

The painting "Light" (circa 1914, Private collection) by the same artist can be considered as an example of iconographic synthesis. On the one hand, the torch in the hand of the central character and his nakedness bring him closer to the image of Prometheus. Although the scene of the torture of the rebellious titan by the Zeus eagle is more often depicted (both old masters and contemporaries of Coloman Moser, for example, Gustave Moreau, addressed this plot). The closest painting to Moser's work is the 1908 Prometheus painting by the Belgian symbolist, philosopher and occultist Jean Delville (1867-1953) (Royal Library, Brussels). Here he is also depicted completely naked, and the importance of fire as a source of light is emphasized, in a symbolic sense - knowledge, secret wisdom or the light of art.

At the same time, compositionally, the painting bears great resemblance to the plot of the Transfiguration of Christ, which is common in painting: Jesus rises above the earth in the center, surrounded by radiance, at his feet are the disciples blinded by divine radiance. It can be assumed that the artist combines the image of the Savior and the image of the main defender of mankind from Greek mythology, creating an image-a symbol of superman, the Messiah, bringing light to the human race. Artistic life in Europe at the turn of the century was closely connected with the search for esoteric truth beyond the framework of traditional religion [18]; therefore, it is not surprising that the author allowed himself such a bold experiment with the image of Jesus[iii].

Another work by Coloman Moser, "Venus in the grotto" (ca. 1914. The Leopold Museum, Vienna) by its name refers to the story about the medieval Minnesinger Tannhauser, popularized by the German composer Richard Wagner in the opera of the same name. Wagner's work also intertwines the ancient principle (expressed mainly by the seduction of the title character – the Roman goddess of love Venus, in whose grotto he spent seven years indulging in the pleasures of the flesh) and the inherently Christian idea of atonement, which is expressed in the repentance of the protagonist, his visit to the Pope in the hope of begging forgiveness, and what happened in the finale of the work, there is a miracle with the flowering of the pontiff's staff, repeating the miracle with the Aaron's rod, set forth in the Old Testament [iv].

In the Austrian Art Nouveau era, the apotheosis of the disappearance of the boundaries between the real and the fantastic, mythological and Christian, religious and secular, was the XIV exhibition of the Association of Artists of the Vienna Secession, dedicated to one of the greatest composers in Europe, the last representative of the Viennese Classical School, Ludwig van Beethoven. This exhibition was held in the house of the Vienna Secession and was available to the public from April 15 to June 27, 1902 [5, p. 67].

Especially for this exhibition, the German sculptor and corresponding member of the Vienna Secession [5, p. 44] Max Klinger (1857-1920) created a sculptural portrait of the composer (1902, Museum of Fine Arts, Leipzig), which became the semantic and compositional center of the exposition. It is noteworthy that Beethoven, in Klinger's interpretation, acquires the features of Zeus-Jupiter– the ruler of the gods in ancient mythology. The sculptor gives his hero the attributes that were inherent in the statue of Zeus in Olympia: a massive throne, a draped robe that leaves the torso naked, and an eagle sitting submissively at the feet of the great musician. The meaning of such a visual parallel is clear: Just as Jupiter is the supreme deity, so Beethoven appears to be the greatest of composers, and art is thus likened to religious service.

However, the sculptor is not limited only to the ancient allegory: the throne on which the composer sits thoughtfully is decorated with four winged heads of cherubs, which makes it possible to compare Beethoven not just with a pagan deity, but with the Christian Creator God, often depicted surrounded by a host of angels. Here, if not equality, then at least the similarity of the Artist (in the broadest sense of the word) is already manifested The God who created the universe out of nothing. Artistic creation appears to be a small Creation, and art is given a role no less important than religion.

It is not the first time that M. Klinger has resorted to mixing Christian and ancient subjects in his work. In his monumental painting "Christ on Olympus" (1897, Museum of Fine Arts, Leipzig), the Savior appears before the Olympian gods. In this picture, the contrast between the Christian and pagan world is clearly visible: the nakedness of the "false" gods and the long robes of Christ and the righteous who came with him carrying the cross; Jesus calmly standing confidently on the ground and Jupiter angry in impotence, as if hiding behind a very young naked body of Ganymede. The painting can be interpreted as an allegory of the decline of the Roman religion and the beginning of the history of Christianity. However, there is no such contrast in Beethoven's sculptural portrait: cherubic babies and an eagle made of black stone coexist in the same space, embodying the idea that art can reconcile the irreconcilable.

 Thanks to the free layout of the Secession exhibition hall, a kind of labyrinth was built for the exhibition, in the center of which the statue of Beethoven was located, as in a secret sanctuary. Researcher G. Kern wrote about the ritual role of the labyrinth: "... the labyrinth appears primarily to be the embodiment (at the same time perfect) of the initiation rite. Let's take a closer look at the shape of the maze — it's an internal space separated from the rest of the world. Having reached the center, a person remains completely alone, alone with himself, with the divine principle, with the Minotaur, or with something else that can be filled with the content of the concept of “center”. In any case, the center is a place where a person is given the opportunity to discover something so important and significant that this discovery requires a radical change in the direction of movement"[20, p. 15]. Thus, the veneration of the composer of the "Vienna classical school" was given the appearance of a religious action (it is also worth remembering that labyrinths are also found in Christian churches in Western Europe, for example in Reims Cathedral). The impression of the mystery represented by the exhibition was enhanced by the Beethoven Frieze created by G. Klimt specifically for the exhibition (1902, Secession House, Vienna).

Klimt's monumental work, 34 meters long and 2 meters high, was located in the northwestern part of the pavilion. This symbolist work reflects images from ancient myths, medieval legends and Christian iconography. The complex and synthetic nature of the work, which is also found in Klimt's University Cycle, was noted by the music critic Robert Hirschfeld (1857-1914), who visited the exhibition, concluding: "Once again, Klimt created a work of art that only three people can appreciate: a doctor and two orderlies" [21, p. 36].

The first figure group, called "Longing for Happiness", depicts a knight in golden armor going on a pilgrimage, as if he came out of a courtly chivalric novel. Two figures hover above him: Victory, holding a wreath, that is, the winged goddess Nika, or, in the Roman manner, Victoria, and Mercy in the form of an Angel, looking at the knight.

The central, shortest and most "filled" part of the frieze, which is called "Hostile Forces", depicts the chthonic giant Typhon, the spouse of Echidna, embodying all the troubles of the human race. The entire right side of the frieze is occupied by his mighty wings and the interlacing of many tails of the father of monsters, whom the gods themselves defeated with great difficulty. To the left of Typhon's ape-like head are the three Gorgon sisters[v], behind whom stand the personifications of disease, madness and Death. The latter is depicted as the emaciated figure of a woman whose face looks more like a skull. To the right of the monster is another group of three figures: personifications of Lust, Vice (depicted as seductive beauties) and Immoderation (appearing before the viewer in the guise of a fat old woman). In the distance, the figure of Tosca can be seen alone, covered with a translucent black veil. Thus, in the central composition of the frieze, there is again a mixture of monsters from ancient mythology and allegories of the vices reprehensible in Christianity.

The last group of Beethoven's frieze is the Choir of the Angels of Paradise, which also received the title of the final movement of Beethoven's 9th symphony "Ode to Joy". It shows two lovers frozen in an embrace in a golden alcove while Angels sing divine hymns in the background. Thus, the final part of this visual narrative is dominated by Christian motifs, as opposed to the "Hostile Forces" that are personified by pagan monsters. However, Klimt, unlike Klinger, does not demonize the gods of antiquity, but takes frightening monsters in advance, as if using double optics, and observes the world both as a Christian and as a contemporary of Homer. Of course, there are many more examples of intercultural transgression, as in the examples described above, typical of Austro-Hungarian art of that time; however, within the framework of this article, it seems reasonable to focus on the most striking embodiments of the trend under study.

It should be noted that the 1902 exhibition was the culmination of the work of the Vienna Secession association. She embodied both the synthesis of various works of art, and allowed the artists to free their figurative language from any spatial and temporal constraints, which helped them combine both ancient and Christian motifs in their work on the way to their cherished goal – the transformation of the disparate nations of Austria-Hungary into a united Kunstfolk – a single people connected not by politics, but by art. Unfortunately, this beautiful dream, like most utopian Art Nouveau projects, was not destined to come true, but the works created during this period became the pearls of Central European Art Nouveau.

 In no case should it be argued that decadence is the core of the aesthetic paradigm of the Viennese Secession, although it echoes it in some points. Nevertheless, few people, with the exception of the "damned poets" from the circle of S. Baudelaire (1821-1867), proclaimed the decline as part of their artistic program. On the contrary, the secessionists dreamed of renewing art, and even named their official print organ "Ver Sacrum" - "Sacred Spring", trying to emphasize the positive vitality of their own aspirations. Decadence, and a special case of its manifestation – the destruction of boundaries and hierarchies that existed in culture, is manifested in the works of Secession artists as part of the Zeitgeist – the zeitgeist to which Klimt, Moser and their brothers in the workshop were susceptible due to the innovative, to some extent experimental nature of their association.

Thus, decadence, which F. Nietzsche associates with the disintegration of a single whole and the loss of hierarchical relationships in favor of individual individuals, released the creative energy of an entire generation of Austrian artists who created their works, ignoring the boundaries that existed before between secular and religious and, as a result, between Christian and pagan, real and imaginary.

 

[i] The Belvedere Gallery in Vienna hosted the exhibition "Decadence: Aspects of Austrian Symbolism" in 2013 [14]. The author of this article, unlike the curators of the exhibition, does not consider decadence and symbolism to be different names for the same phenomenon.

[ii] "The old world died with the Archduke and his wife." [17, p. 327]

[iii] Also, on the connection between art and esotericism, see [19]

[iv] "The next day Moses [and Aaron] entered the tabernacle of revelation, and behold, the rod of Aaron, from the house of Levi, blossomed, budded, gave color, and brought almonds." Ch. 17:8

[v] Their stylistic solution resembles the Erinias, which Klimt would depict 5 years later in Jurisprudence (1907, destroyed in a fire in 1945

References
1. Kögel, E. (2020). Austro-Hungarian Architect Networks in Tianjin and Shanghai (1918–1952). Â Arrival Cities: Migrating Artists and New Metropolitan Topographies in the 20th Century (ññ. 91–108). Leuven University Press.
2. Foster, H. (2019). Art since 1900. Moscow: Ad Marginem Press.
3. Shorske, K. (2001). Fin de siecle Vienna. Politics and Culture. Moscow, Russia: N.I. Novikov Publushing House.
4. Persi U. (2007). Art Nouveau and The Word: Art Nouveau Style In Literature of Russia and The West. Moscow: Agraf.
5. Vargo, P. (1979). Art in Vienna 1898-1918. Klimt, Kokoschka, Schiele and their contemporaries. Phaidon Press Limited.
6. Klimt, G., & Natter, T. G. (2018). Gustav Klimt: Drawings & paintings. Taschen.
7. Husslein-Arco, A. (2012). Gustav Klimt: 150 years. Belvedere.
8. Natter, T. G. (ed.). (2016). Klimt and the women of Vienna’s golden age 1900-1918. Prestel.
9. Chan, M. (1997). Egon Schiele: The Leopold Collection Vienna. MoMA, 26, 2–7.
10. Natter, T. G. (2020). Egon Schiele. The Paintings. Taschen.
11. Rollig, S., & Natter, T. G. (2017). Klimt und die Antike: Erotische Begegnungen [Klimt and the Antiquety: Erotic Meeting]. Prestel Verlag.
12. Hanson, K.(ed.). (2018). Klimt and Schiele: Drawings: from the Albertina Museum, Vienna (First edition). MFA Publications, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.
13. Thun-Hohenstein, C., Schmuttermeier, E., & Witt-Dörring, C. (ed.). (2019). Koloman Moser: Universalkünstler Zwischen Gustav Klimt Und Josef Hoffmann / Universal Artist Between Gustav Klimt and Josef Hoffmann (1st edition). Birkhäuser.
14. Husslein-Arco, A., & Weidinger, A. (2013). Decadence: Aspects of Austrian Symbolism. Belvedere.
15. Bernheimer, C. (2002). Decadent Subjects: The Idea of Decadence in Art, Literature, Philosophy, and Culture of the Fin de Siècle in Europe. JHU Press.
16. Nietzsche, F. Casus Vagner. Retrieved from https://www.nietzsche.ru/works/main-works/vagner/
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18. Falikov, B. (2017). Âåëè÷èíà Êà÷åñòâà. Îêêóëüòèçì, ðåëèãèè Âîñòîêà èñêóññòâî XX âåêà. [The Measure of Quality. Occultism, Oriental religions and XX century Art]. New Literary Observation.
19. Korndorf A.S., & Bobrinskaya E.A. (2018). Èñòîðèÿ èñêóññòâà è îòâåðãíóòîå çíàíèå: îò ãåðìåòè÷åñêîé òðàäèöèè ê XXI âåêó [Art History and Rejected knowledge. From Hermetic Tradition to XXI century]. The State Institute for Art Studies.
20. Kern, H. (2007). Through the Labyrinth. Saint-Petersburg, Russia: Azbuka-classica.
21. Salfellner, H. (2018). Kimt. An Illustrated Life. Vitalis.

First Peer Review

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The subject of the study presented for publication in the journal "Culture and Art", as indicated by the author in the composite title ("Synthesis of religious and mythological motifs in the visual arts of the Vienna Secession. Decadence as a blurring of intra-cultural boundaries"), is a synthesis of religious and mythological motifs in the visual arts of the Viennese Secession, considered as one of the signs of aesthetic decadence. Accordingly, the author chose the figurative content of the works of individual Austrian artists of the turn of the XIX-XX centuries as the object of his attention. To substantiate the attribution of individual works with the aesthetics of decadence, the author resorts to the characterization of this trend in the art of F. Nietzsche. According to the author, it is the synthesis of religious and mythological motifs in the described sample of works that allows them to be attributed to decadence, devoid of clear boundaries between the real and the fantastic, mythological ancient images and Christian symbolism in their figurative content, which blurs, among other things, the value hierarchies of Christian ethics. The author analyzes individual works by Coloman Moser (1868-1918) ("Self-portrait with a Mermaid", ca. 1914, Leopold Museum, Vienna, "Light", ca. 1914, Private collection), "Venus in the grotto", ca. 1914. Leopold Museum, Vienna), sculptural portrait of L. Beethoven by Max Klinger (1857-1920) (1902, Museum of Fine Arts, Leipzig), his canvas "Christ on Olympus" (1897, Museum of Fine Arts, Leipzig) and Beethoven frieze (1902, Secession House, Vienna). The examples given by the author testify to the mixing and synthesis of religious and mythological motifs in the visual art of the artists of the Vienna Secession. This synthesis, according to the author, leads to the disintegration of a stable hierarchy of figuratively expressive elements of the whole, which is a sign of decadence. The author concludes that "decadence, which F. Nietzsche associates with the disintegration of a single whole and the loss of hierarchical relationships in favor of individual individuals, released the creative energy of an entire generation of Austrian artists who created their works, ignoring the boundaries that existed before between the secular and religious and, as a result, between Christian and pagan, real and imaginary"It looks quite convincing. Although, as the reviewer notes, for such a generalization, the author needs to justify or at least state that the examples analyzed by him are not an exception, but represent a sample representing the work of artists of the Vienna Secession as a whole. For the rest, the subject of the study was disclosed by the author at a theoretical level sufficient for publication in a scientific journal. The author does not pay special attention to the research methodology in the article's test, limiting himself to establishing the criterion of F. Nietzsche's decadence. The author's methodological complex includes techniques of comparative iconic analysis, enhanced by cultural attribution and typologization. Despite the fact that the research program in the introductory part of the article is not formalized by the author, it is clearly presented in the logic of the narrative. In essence, based on the criterion of F. Nietzsche, the author argues for the contribution of individual artists of the Viennese Secession to the aesthetics of decadence. The author explains the relevance of the topic by the acuteness of the art criticism discussion on the issue of iconographic eclecticism in the work of artists of the Vienna Secession, characteristic of the decadent aesthetic paradigm. The reviewer generally shares the author's observation, but recommends that the author's position be clearly outlined in the final conclusion: does the author consider the association of artists of the Vienna Secession as a whole to be supporters of decadent aesthetics or are its motives inherent only to individual artists? The scientific novelty reflected in the author's analysis of individual examples is beyond doubt. The style of the text as a whole is scientific, only in a separate fragment the reviewer found inconsistency of words ("Here, if not equality, then at least the similarity of the Artist (in the broad sense of the word) is already manifested To God..."), which indicates the need for additional literary proofreading of the text. The structure of the article generally corresponds to the logic of the presentation of the research results, although the content of the final conclusion, as indicated above, the reviewer recommends strengthening, specifying the author's position more specifically. The bibliography sufficiently reveals the problematic field of research, is designed in accordance with the requirements of the editorial board and GOST. The appeal to the opponents is quite correct, the author participates in a reasoned theoretical discussion. The article is of interest to the readership of the magazine "Culture and Art" and after a little revision can be recommended for publication.

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The author submitted his article "Synthesis of religious and mythological motifs in the visual arts of the Vienna Secession" to the magazine "Culture and Art". Decadence as a blurring of intra-cultural boundaries", in which a study of the process of interpenetration of Christian and mythological motifs in the works of artists of the Vienna Secession was conducted. The author proceeds from the study of this issue from the fact that the socio-cultural situation at the turn of the XIX–XX centuries contributed to the blurring of invisible boundaries that existed within culture, separating religious subjects from mythological ones, and fantastic subjects from realistic ones, and gave rise to the desire for the synthesis of heterogeneous elements characteristic of modern art. The author traces the desire to overcome borders and to synthesize in the program of the Vienna Secession, as one of the main tasks of the artists of the Secession considered the creation of a new language of art, which, according to the secessionists, was supposed to help overcome ethnic, linguistic and religious barriers that existed in the Austro-Hungarian Empire, which was living out its last decades. Unlike researchers who consider the artistic heritage of this creative union as the forerunner of modernism, the author proposes to analyze the work of Secession artists from the perspective of iconographic eclecticism, characteristic of the decadent aesthetic paradigm. The purpose of the study is to trace the process of integration of pagan and Christian motifs using examples of works of art by artists of the Vienna Secession. The methodological basis was made up of an integrated approach, including both general scientific methods of analysis and synthesis, as well as cultural analysis and artistic analysis of works. The theoretical basis was the works of F. Nietzsche, K. Bernheimer and others. The empirical basis was the works of Coloman Moser, Jean Delville, Max Klinger, Gustav Klimt. Unfortunately, the article lacks an analysis of the scientific elaboration of the studied issues, which makes it difficult to draw a conclusion about the scientific novelty of the study. The author has not carried out a bibliographic and content analysis of the scientific literature devoted to the research topic. The article also lacks information that allows us to conclude about the relevance of the study. The author sees the philosophical justification for the activities of the Vienna Secession in the concept of decadence by the philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche. However, the author believes that decadence, which F. Nietzsche associates with the disintegration of a single whole and the loss of hierarchical relationships in favor of individual individuals, released the creative energy of an entire generation of Austrian artists who created their works, ignoring the boundaries that existed before between secular and religious and, as a result, between Christian and pagan, real and imaginary. Based on the artistic and compositional analysis of the works of Viennese artists and sculptors of the early twentieth century, the author examines the mixture of ancient and Christian subjects and motifs. For example, K. Moser's painting "Light" (1914) embodied the images of Prometheus, bringing light to people, and Christ, who took on the burden of human sins. In Klinger's interpretation, Beethoven acquires the features of Zeus-Jupiter, the ruler of the gods in ancient mythology, and art, thus, is likened to religious service. The 1902 exhibition is positioned by the author as the culmination of the work of the Vienna Secession association. She embodied both the synthesis of various works of art, and allowed the artists to free their figurative language from any space-time constraints, which helped them combine both ancient and Christian motifs in their work on the way to their cherished goal - the transformation of the disparate nations of Austria–Hungary into a single people, connected not only by politics, but art. In conclusion, the author presents a conclusion on the conducted research, which contains all the key provisions of the presented material. It seems that the author in his material touched upon relevant and interesting issues for modern socio-humanitarian knowledge, choosing a topic for analysis, consideration of which in scientific research discourse will entail certain changes in the established approaches and directions of analysis of the problem addressed in the presented article. The results obtained allow us to assert that the study of the factors that influenced the formation of a unique artistic direction is of undoubted theoretical and practical cultural interest and can serve as a source of further research. The material presented in the work has a clear, logically structured structure that contributes to a more complete assimilation of the material. This is also facilitated by an adequate choice of an appropriate methodological framework. However, the bibliographic list of the study consists of only 10 sources and contains an insufficient number of scientific papers on the studied problem, which seems clearly insufficient for generalization and analysis of scientific discourse on the studied problem. Nevertheless, the author fulfilled his goal, received certain scientific results that made it possible to summarize the material. It should be stated that the article may be of interest to readers and deserves to be published in a reputable scientific publication after these shortcomings have been eliminated.

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The subject of the article is "Synthesis of religious and mythological motifs in the visual arts of the Vienna Secession. Decadence as a blurring of intra-cultural boundaries" is the work of the artists of the Vienna Secession. The author of the article offers the reader a new interpretation of the Secession's artistic heritage, considering this trend in the context of European decadence at the turn of the XIX-XX centuries. Recognizing decadence as a separate vector of the evolution of Western art, the author establishes parallels between it and symbolism, modernism and modernism. Special emphasis is placed on the interpenetration of Christian and mythological motifs in the paintings of representatives of the Viennese Secession. The methodology of the research in the theoretical part is focused on the hypothetical-deductive method, deducing from the definition of decadence and its specific signs of consequences that allow one to classify certain specific paintings as a direction. At the same time, the author of the article uses visual research methods and visual semiotic analysis to identify the symbolism of the analyzed canvases by Coloman Moser, Max Klinger, Gustav Klimt, their comparison and typification. The relevance of the research is associated with a somewhat biased attitude towards the creative union of the Vienna Secession, which played a significant role in the art of the turn of the XIX-XX centuries and acted as the forerunner of many important artistic movements for the twentieth century. The author does not agree with the interpretation of the artistic heritage of representatives of this movement as a forerunner of modernism and seeks to show the importance of iconographic eclecticism in paintings, characteristic of the decadent aesthetic paradigm. The scientific novelty of the article is connected with the interpretation of the work of Secession artists as manifestations of decadence in the aspect of the destruction of boundaries and hierarchies that existed in culture, considering it from the position of capturing the spirit of the time, to which Klimt, Moser and their brothers in the workshop were susceptible due to the innovative, to some extent experimental nature of their association. The style of the article is typical for scientific publications in the field of humanitarian studies, it combines the clarity of the formulations of key theses and their logically consistent argumentation. A significant role in building the logic of research belongs to the definition of the main property of decadence in the loss of integrity due to greater autonomy of parts, lack of hierarchy. Based on this premise, the author shows how this feature is present in the works of Moser, Klinger, Klimt. The structure and content fully correspond to the stated problem. In the first part of the work, appealing to the research of P. Vargo, Charles Bernheimer and Friedrich Nietzsche, the author gives an interpretation of decadence in art. Then he sequentially analyzes the works of Moser, Klinger, Klimt, presented at the XIV exhibition of the Association of Artists of the Vienna Secession, dedicated to Ludwig van Beethoven. This 1902 exhibition was the culmination of the work of the Vienna Secession Association. Using the example of the works of these artists, the author of the article shows how ancient and Christian motifs are intertwined in their work. The bibliography of the article includes 21 titles of works by both domestic and foreign authors devoted to the problem under consideration. The article will be of interest to researchers of art and culture in Europe.