The challenge of modernism

Around 1900, a lively dialogue emerged in Central European art, made possible by a general modernization. This dialogue occurred between Vienna, as the capital of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and the other national centres, including Zagreb. At the end of the nineteenth century, Croatia had already established close cultural ties with Vienna, and the ensuing exchange between Zagreb's artists and the Vienna Secession had a profound influence on fin-de-siècle Croatian art.