Art Deco combined luxury materials with geometric forms to define the look of the 1920s and 1930s. Learn how it shaped skyscrapers, jewelry, and design.
On April 28, 1925, the International Exhibition of Modern Decorative and Industrial Arts opened in Paris. It stretched along the Seine from Les Invalides to the Grand Palais, filling temporary pavilions with furniture, jewelry, textiles, glass, ceramics, and architectural models. Every object was required by the exhibition's rules to be "of new inspiration and real originality." No copies of historical styles were permitted. The exhibition was supposed to showcase French design superiority, but it launched something bigger: a style that would spread across the world and define the visual identity of the interwar period. The style did not yet have a name. It would not be called "Art Deco" until 1966, when the Musee des Arts Decoratifs in Paris held a retrospective exhibition called Les Annees 25. But in 1925, the world saw it for the first time.
Art Deco is a style of decorative art, architecture, and design that emerged in France in the 1910s and was internationally launched by the 1925 Paris Exhibition. It is characterized by geometric forms, stylized decoration, luxurious materials, and a synthesis of fine art and industrial production. Art Deco drew on Cubism, Fauvism, Futurism, ancient Egyptian art, African art, and the machine age, combining these sources into a style that was simultaneously luxurious and modern. It influenced everything from skyscrapers to cigarette cases, from ocean liners to radio cabinets, and it defined the look of the 1920s and 1930s before fading during World War II.
This entry covers what Art Deco is, how it emerged from the 1925 Paris Exhibition, which artists and designers defined it, and how a style born of luxury became the visual language of modernity.
Art Deco is not a single style but a family of related approaches to decorative design. What unites them is a commitment to geometric form, stylized ornament, and the synthesis of art and industry. Unlike the Bauhaus and Modernist movements, which rejected ornament entirely, Art Deco embraced decoration but stripped it of historical references. Ornaments were geometric rather than floral, abstracted rather than literal, and integrated into the overall form rather than applied to it.
The visual vocabulary of Art Deco includes sunburst patterns, zigzags, chevrons, stepped forms, stylized flowers and animals, and the female figure rendered as a geometric ideal. Materials ranged from the luxurious (ebony, ivory, lacquer, shagreen, rare woods, precious metals) to the industrial (chrome, bakelite, plate glass, stainless steel). The style was applied to architecture, interior design, furniture, jewelry, fashion, graphic design, product design, and transportation design. Art Deco was the first style to be truly global, spreading from Paris to New York, Shanghai, Mumbai, and Melbourne through exhibitions, publications, and commercial products.
A 2025 article in the Journal of Design History reflected on the strange reception history of Art Deco, noting that when the Musee des Arts Decoratifs commemorated the 1925 exhibition in 1966 and 1976, the curators were "strangely apologetic," comparing the style unfavorably to Modernism and talking of nostalgia and perversity. The article asks whether the balance between Modernism and Art Deco needs to be more fully re-evaluated. Read the article at Oxford Academic.
Art Deco emerged in Paris in the years before World War I, when a group of designers and collectors began to move away from the organic curves of Art Nouveau toward a more geometric, restrained approach. The Societe des Artistes Decorateurs, founded in 1901, advocated for the elevation of decorative art to the level of fine art. The idea for the 1925 exhibition was first proposed in 1907, approved by the French government in 1912, and delayed by World War I until 1925.
The 1925 exhibition was the defining event. Twenty-one countries participated, filling pavilions along the Seine. The French pavilions, designed by department stores and luxury manufacturers, showcased the work of designers like Emile-Jacques Ruhlmann, Jean Dunand, and Edgar Brandt. The exhibition guidelines required all works to be previously unpublished and excluded any reproduction of historical styles. As JSTOR Daily reported in 2025, marking the centenary of the exhibition, the guidelines sparked debate over the interpretation of "modern," and the lack of clear criteria led to arbitrary decisions. Read more at JSTOR Daily.
The Musee des Arts Decoratifs in Paris mounted a major centenary exhibition in 2025 called 1925-2025: One Hundred Years of Art Deco, filling three floors with over 1,000 objects. The exhibition included a 1924 folding screen by Edgar Brandt called L'Oasis that casts a fountain and tropical foliage in a streamlined vocabulary of modern metallurgy, and items from Sonia Delaunay's "Simultane" fashion boutique, which brought the dynamism of her paintings to wearable garments. Read more at ArtNews.
Ruhlmann was the leading French Art Deco furniture designer. His pieces used rare materials like ebony, amaranth, and ivory, with forms that were elegant, geometric, and precisely proportioned. His Chaise longue (c. 1925, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York) exemplifies the Art Deco synthesis of luxury and geometry. Ruhlmann designed the interior of the Pavilion d'un Collectionneur at the 1925 exhibition, which was one of the most admired displays. He was criticized by Modernists for his use of expensive materials and traditional craftsmanship, but his work defined the high end of Art Deco.
Lempicka was the painter of Art Deco. Her portraits of aristocrats, socialites, and bohemians combined the geometric forms of Cubism with the sensuality of Old Master painting. Her Auto-Portrait (Tamara in a Green Bugatti) (1925, private collection) shows the artist at the wheel of a car, wearing a helmet and gloves, embodying the Art Deco ideal of the modern woman. Her Portrait of Madame M (1932, Musee National d'Art Moderne, Centre Pompidou) uses polished, metallic-looking surfaces and geometric drapery to create an image of cool, sophisticated modernity.
Dunand was a Swiss-born lacquer artist who worked in Paris. He developed a technique of lacquering metal and wood surfaces, producing vases, screens, and furniture with deep, lustrous finishes. His Vase with Four Handles (c. 1925, Metropolitan Museum of Art) shows the geometric stylization and rich surface treatment that characterize Art Deco decorative arts. Dunand also created lacquered panels for ocean liners, including the Normandie.
Van Alen was the architect of the Chrysler Building in New York (1928-1930), the most famous Art Deco skyscraper. The building's crown is a series of sunburst arches in stainless steel, terminating in a spire. The ornamentation includes eagle heads, winged caps, and radiator caps from Chrysler automobiles. The Chrysler Building won a race to build the tallest structure in the world, briefly surpassing the Bank of Manhattan Trust Building before being overtaken by the Empire State Building (1931, designed by Shreve, Lamb, and Harmon), another Art Deco skyscraper.
Delaunay was a Ukrainian-born artist who worked in Paris and bridged fine art and design. Her "Simultane" boutique at the 1925 exhibition applied the color theories of Orphism (the movement she developed with her husband Robert Delaunay) to textiles, clothing, and book bindings. Her fabrics used bold geometric patterns in bright colors, bringing avant-garde art into everyday consumer goods. The MAD exhibition in 2025 highlighted how Delaunay's garments prioritized the freedom of women's movements.
Art Deco is generally divided into two phases. The first, sometimes called "high Art Deco" or the "1925 style," runs from roughly 1910 to 1930 and is characterized by luxurious materials, hand craftsmanship, and geometric ornament based on the circle, the triangle, and the zigzag. This is the Art Deco of the 1925 Paris exhibition, of Ruhlmann furniture and Dunand lacquer.
The second phase, sometimes called "Streamline Moderne," runs from roughly 1930 to 1940 and is characterized by aerodynamic forms, continuous curves, and industrial materials. Influenced by the science of aerodynamics and the design of trains, cars, and airplanes, Streamline Moderne replaced the angular geometry of high Art Deco with smooth, horizontal, teardrop shapes. This is the Art Deco of the Chrysler Building's curves, of Raymond Loewy's locomotive designs, and of the radio cabinets and toasters that brought the style into middle-class homes.
A 2025 review in the Journal of Design History examined two centenary exhibitions in Italy and Denmark, noting that Art Deco is often described as a phenomenon of "taste" rather than a style, to signify that it lacked theoretical foundation. The Milan exhibition Art Deco: Il Trionfo della Modernita traced Art Deco as a reaction to World War I and the exhaustion of Art Nouveau, while the Danish exhibition explored the decorative approach to modernism in a Nordic context. Read the review at Oxford Academic.
Art Deco's influence is visible in architecture, interior design, fashion, and graphic design worldwide. The style experienced a major revival in the 1960s and 1970s, when the term "Art Deco" was coined and the style was rediscovered by collectors and designers. Art Deco buildings in Miami Beach, Shanghai, and Mumbai are protected as heritage sites. The style's geometric forms and luxurious surfaces continue to influence contemporary design, from jewelry to hotel interiors to film set design. The 2025 centenary prompted a re-evaluation of Art Deco's relationship to Modernism, with scholars arguing that the dismissal of Art Deco as merely decorative is overdue for correction.
Art Deco developed alongside Bauhaus modernism, which rejected Art Deco's decorative approach. Le Corbusier's L'Esprit Nouveau pavilion at the 1925 exhibition stood in direct opposition to the Art Deco mainstream, arguing for the elimination of ornament. Art Deco drew on Cubism for its geometric forms and on Fauvism for its bold color. It overlaps with Futurism in its celebration of the machine age. For more on Art Deco, read our post on Art Deco glamour and the 1920s and our post on art and fashion.
The best collection of Art Deco decorative arts is at the Musee des Arts Decoratifs in Paris, which mounted the centenary exhibition in 2025. The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York holds furniture by Ruhlmann and objects by Dunand. The Chrysler Building and the Empire State Building in New York are the most famous Art Deco skyscrapers and can be viewed from the street. The Art Deco Historic District in Miami Beach contains over 800 Art Deco buildings. The Victoria and Albert Museum in London holds a significant collection of Art Deco objects.
If you want to trace Art Deco from its origins to its global spread, start at the Musee des Arts Decoratifs in Paris for the 1925 exhibition material, then visit the Chrysler Building in New York for the architectural dimension, and end in Miami Beach for the largest concentration of Art Deco buildings in the world. You will see how a French design exhibition launched a style that shaped the look of the 20th century. For more on the broader context, read our entries on Bauhaus and Cubism, or explore our post on art and advertising.
Discover other art terms you might be interested in
The Bauhaus merged fine art and craft into a single discipline. Learn how Gropius, Klee, Kandinsky, and Albers shaped modern design education.
Constructivism rejected art for art's sake and demanded art serve social purpose. Learn how Tatlin, Rodchenko, and Popova built a new visual world.
Cubism broke 500 years of perspective in painting. Learn how Picasso and Braque fragmented form, invented collage, and changed how art represents reality.
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