On Avenue de Tervueren in Brussels, Stoclet Palace stands apart from the idea of a conventional museum. Designed as a private home, it is one of the most complete expressions of the Viennese Secession and the Wiener Werkstätte, the design workshops that brought architects, artists and craftspeople into close collaboration. The residence was commissioned by Belgian financier and collector Adolphe Stoclet and his wife Suzanne. Austrian architect Josef Hoffmann led the project from 1905 to 1911, shaping both the building and the ensemble around it.
The concept behind the house is often described by the German term Gesamtkunstwerk: a total work of art in which architecture, interior design, furniture, decorative objects and garden contribute to a coherent whole. This was not simply a question of matching colours. Hoffmann and the Wiener Werkstätte applied a shared design language to the rooms, fittings and furnishings, so that the domestic setting became an integrated artistic composition. The project brought multiple disciplines together at a time when modern design was challenging the boundary between fine art and everyday life.
