Timeline

England Morris & Co. established, promoting arts and crafts movement.	1875
	1879	Thomas Edison demonstrates the electric light.
	1883	Construction begins on ten-story Home Insurance Building in Chicago, the first to use skyscraper engineering.
Brussels Term "art nouveau" appears in print for the first time, describing the Belgian artists' group "Les XX."	1884	The first subway system opens in London.
	1885	Gottlieb Daimler and Karl Benz invent the first automobile run by an internal combustion engine.
	1889	The Eiffel Tower is built for the Paris World's Fair.
New York Tiffany Glass and Decorating Company established.	1892
Great Britain Aubrey Beardsley design published in the first issue of the magazine The Studio. Paris Japanese prints exhibition organized by Siegfried Bing. Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec paints Jane Avril at the Jardin de Paris. Brussels Victor Horta designs the Tassel House. Chicago Columbian World's Fair; Adler and Sullivan design the Transportation Building.	1893	Women win the right to vote in New Zealand, the first country to embrace female suffrage. In Belgium universal male suffrage is adopted.
Paris Hector Guimard designs Castel Béranger.	1894	Claude Debussy completes L'après-midi d'une faune.
Paris Siegfried Bing opens his gallery/shop L'Art Nouveau. Louis Comfort Tiffany exhibits at Bing's opening of L'Art Nouveau.	1895	The Lumière brothers screen the first moving picture--of workers leaving a factory.
Glasgow Charles Rennie Mackintosh and George Walton design Buchanan Street tearooms. Brussels World's Fair: Henry van de Velde and Victor Horta show designs.	1897
Munich United Workshops for Art in Handicraft founded. Vienna Josef Olbrich designs Secession Building. Gustav Klimt paints Pallas Athene. Turin Exhibition of Italian decorative arts.	1898	European and American troops are sent to quell the Boxer Rebellion in China.
London South Kensington Museum becomes Victoria and Albert Museum. Paris Hector Guimard designs Castel Henriette. René Lalique designs Dragonfly woman corsage ornament.	1899	Thorstein Veblen, The Theory of the Leisure Class, published.
London Charles Robert Ashbee and Charles Rennie Mackintosh exhibit to great acclaim at Eighth Secession Exhibition, Vienna. Paris Loïe Fuller Pavilion, Pavilion Bing, and other Art Nouveau designs triumph at the World's Fair. Paris metro opens using Hector Guimard's Metro station entrances.	1900	Sigmund Freud, The Interpretation of Dreams, published.
Nancy Émile Gallé made first president of École de Nancy.	1901	Queen Victoria dies after sixty-three-year reign that saw vast expansion of British colonial rule.
	1903	Americans Wilbur and Orville Wright make the first manned flight at Kitty Hawk. Pierre and Marie Curie share Nobel Prize for discovery of radium.
	1905	Albert Einstein develops the special theory of relativity. Exhibition at Salon d'automne by artists dubbed "les fauves."
Barcelona Antoní Gaudí designs Casa Milá.	1906
Chicago Frank Lloyd Wright designs Robie House.	1907
Glasgow Completion of Glasgow School of Art.	1909
Venice Venice Biennale includes Gustav Klimt.	1910

Overview

1880-1910
Art Nouveau is said to be the first modern style in the 20th century. It was the first style to stop being inspired by things of the past, but yet instead taking inspiration from around you and in particular nature. 

When Art Nouveau was first shown in Paris and then in London, there was outrage; it was like marmite, either people loved it or hated it. Within the style itself there are two distinct looks: curvy lines and the more austere, linear look. Some aspects of art nouveau were revived again in the 1960s.
This style was spread pretty fast throughout Europe thanks to photo-illustrated art magazines and international exhibitions. Its name differed according to each country, so it was called “Modernisme” in Catalonia, “Liberty” in Italy, “Jugendstil” in Germany, “Secession” in Vienna or Prague.

This modern style was considered an attempt to create an international style based on decorations. Art Nouveau was a style developed by an energetic and brilliant generation of designers and artists who sought to fashion an art form appropriate to the modern age.

In many ways, this style was a response to the Industrial Revolution. The technological progress was welcomed by artists who embraced the aesthetic possibilities of using new materials in their art work such as cast iron.

Influences

• arts and crafts - art nouveau shared the same belief in quality goods and fine craftsmanship but was happy with mass production
• rococo style
• botanical research

Style

• sinuous, elongated, curvy lines
• the whiplash line
• vertical lines and height
• stylised flowers, leaves, roots, buds and seedpods
• the female form - in a pre-Raphaelite pose with long, flowing hair
• exotic woods, marquetry, iridescent glass, silver and semi-precious stones

Big Art Nouveau Names

• Charles Rennie Mackintosh - architect and designer of furniture and jewellery
• Alphonse Mucha - posters
• Aubrey Beardsley - book illustrations
• Louis Comfort Tiffany - lighting
• René Lalique - glass and jewellery
• Emile Galle - ceramics, glass and furniture
• Victor Horta - architect

Art Nouveau links to the specific theme and question I am providing for, as both derive from nature.