The Nature of Dreams

Through the treasures of the Anderson Collection at the Sainsbury Centre, ‘The Nature of Dreams’ will showcase English masterpieces in avant-garde design during the fin de siècle to explore its importance and influence on Art Nouveau in Belgium, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Austria, and the United States. A major feature of Art Nouveau was its debt to English art, design, and architecture. This is all the more interesting given that a substantial Art Nouveau movement didn’t really emerge in England. The Europeans, including Victor Horta and Henri Van de Velde in Brussels, Hector Guimard in Paris, and Antoni Gaudi in Barcelona, openly acknowledged and celebrated the contribution, for example, of William Morris, the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, the Arts and Crafts Movement, and the Aesthetic Movement, to the Art Nouveau aesthetic.