fin-de-siecle
1890s European mood
Fin-de-siècle is French for "end of the century," used in English to evoke the cultural mood of the late 1800s—decadence, world-weariness, artistic experimentation, and a sense that an era was closing.
The term now applies to any end-of-century atmosphere, though it still carries overtones of the 1890s: fin-de-siècle Vienna, a fin-de-siècle malaise.
Valuing beauty above ethics
- decadentSelf-indulgent, often corruptly
- hedonismPursuit of gratification
- sensualityPursuit of physical pleasure
- opulenceShowy, abundant prosperity
indulgence · absinthe · symbolism · dandyism · Wildean · excess · luxury · ennui
Intense prolonged craving
- wistfulnessTender sadness for absence
- retrospectionContemplating past events
- golden agePeriod of peak prosperity
- bygoneOf earlier times
reminiscence · sentimentality · sepia-toned · antiquarian · Gilded Age · Victorian · gaslight · horse-drawn
Concerning thousand-year cycles
- thresholdPoint of beginning
- cuspPoint of transition
- watershedDrainage area boundary
- turning pointDecisive moment of change
liminal · interregnum · epoch · flux · shift · metamorphosis · emergence · dawn
Expecting unfavorable outcomes
- fatalismDoctrine of inevitable outcomes
- degenerationProgressive loss of function
- malaiseDiffuse, sourceless discomfort
- apocalypticismBelief in catastrophic ending
decline · twilight · dusk · weariness · foreboding · nihilism · disillusionment · skepticism
Curvilinear decorative movement, 1890s
- SymbolismArt emphasizing ideas over reality
- Pre-RaphaeliteVictorian artists emulating earlier masters
- KlimtAustrian symbolist painter
- Toulouse-LautrecFin-de-siècle lithographer
Savoy · ornamental · sinuous · gilded · arabesque · stylized · decorative · organic forms
aestheticism
Valuing beauty above ethics
- decadentSelf-indulgent, often corruptly
- hedonismPursuit of gratification
- sensualityPursuit of physical pleasure
opulence · indulgence · absinthe · symbolism · dandyism · Wildean · excess · luxury · ennui · degeneration
yearning
Intense prolonged craving
- wistfulnessTender sadness for absence
- retrospectionContemplating past events
- golden agePeriod of peak prosperity
bygone · reminiscence · sentimentality · sepia-toned · antiquarian · Gilded Age · Victorian · gaslight · horse-drawn · reverie
millennial
Concerning thousand-year cycles
turning point · liminal · interregnum · epoch · flux · shift · metamorphosis · emergence · dawn · dusk
pessimism
Expecting unfavorable outcomes
- fatalismDoctrine of inevitable outcomes
- degenerationProgressive loss of function
- malaiseDiffuse, sourceless discomfort
apocalypticism · decline · twilight · dusk · weariness · foreboding · nihilism · disillusionment · skepticism · cynicism
Art Nouveau
Curvilinear decorative movement, 1890s
- SymbolismArt emphasizing ideas over reality
- Pre-RaphaeliteVictorian artists emulating earlier masters
- KlimtAustrian symbolist painter
Toulouse-Lautrec · Savoy · ornamental · sinuous · gilded · arabesque · stylized · decorative · organic forms · peacock
fin-de-sieclerenaissance
Period of renewed vitality
new beginning · emergent · nascent · avant-garde · inaugural
fin-de-sieclerustic
Rural and unrefined
unaffected · naturalism · Futurism · primitivism · avant-garde
fin, final, finale, finally, finality, finish, finished, finite, infinite