Poets and intellectuals brushed shoulders in bustling coffeehouses , young avant-gardists heralded a new era in social and sexual liberalism , waltzes resounded across the Ringstrasse , the Vienna Secession preached: “To every age its art — to every art its freedom;” and tremors warned of looming political disintegration when the Austrian capital passed into a new century. Across economics, science, art, and music, Vienna blossomed into a “laboratory of modernity,” one which nurtured some of the greatest artistic innovators—from Egon Schiele 's unflinching nude portraits to Gustav Klimt 's decadent Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I , from the ornamental seams and glass floors of Otto Wagner to Ditha Moser 's calendars adorned in golden deities. Discover the zeitgeist, the scandals, and the extraordinary protagonists in this introduction to a transformative epoch. Across painting, sculpture, architecture, and design , we explore all the movers and shakers through insightful profiles and c