Documentary series that looks at how the art nouveau movement flourished in the burgeoning cities of Europe at the end of the 19th century, reflecting an explosion of new ideas about nature, sex, the city and God. Its artists and designers fed on the frentic energy of the streets. In less than a decade Art Nouveau went from nowhere to everywhere. Paying no homage to history or tradition, it proposed decoration and beauty as an antidote to 19th century decorum and earnestness. By 1914 the movement was gone as soon as the war started. The series explores the European cities which most powerfully expressed the movement at its creative heights, connecting the impact of the movement on the fabric of those cities today. It will also plunder rare archive footage and photo archives to bring the movement to life today.