Hector Guimard - The Father of French Art Nouveau
June 3, 2026
1 hr 4 min
1
9
Full
11 of 13
Episode 9 · June 3, 2026
Hector Guimard - The Father of French Art Nouveau
0:00 / 1:04:21
Excerpt playback isn’t available for this episode — use the full-episode link.
Search the Record
Moment search isn’t open for this episode yet
When it opens, you’ll be able to type any phrase and jump straight to the second it was said.
Heni Talks Episodes Around June 3, 2026
Episode 11 of 13 — walk the feed in the order it was published.
1:04:21This episodeHector Guimard - The Father of French Art Nouveau
Summary
How Art Nouveau transformed Parisian Architecture. In this episode we travel to France to meet Hector Guimard the father of French Art Nouveau and the sweeping organic forms that came to define one of the most exciting eras in European culture.
We’ll be exploring how ceramic tiles became a key element in the architecture at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, and we venture underground, down into the Paris Metro where to this day tiles continue to reign supreme.
Ceramics and artwork in this week’s episode include:
Hector Guimard, 1867–1942
Café-Restaurant Au Grand Neptune, 1888, Hector Guimard
Tassel House, Brussels, 1892—93, Victor Horta
Photo: kat_hly.1608 / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 2.0)
Illustrations to Salome by Oscar Wilde, Aubrey Beardsley
The Art Nouveau Bing Pavilion, Paris Exposition, 1900, Siegfried Bing
Courtesy of V&A Museum
Castel Béranger, 1895—98, Hector Guimard
Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 1.0)
Alexandre Bigot, 1862—1927
Photo: Absecon 59 / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Inside Castel Béranger, 1895—98, Hector Guimard
29 Avenue Rapp, Paris, 1899—1901
Photo: marsupilami92 / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 2.0)
Photo: Pline / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0)
Maison Coilliot, 1898—1900
Illustrations to Salome by Oscar Wilde, Aubrey Beardsley
Porte Dauphine Metro Station, Paris, 1900
Photo :Jean-Pierre Dalbéra / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 2.0)
Abbesses Metro Station, Paris, 1913
Hector Guimard — Andrzej O / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Thesupermat / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0)
Porte Dauphine Metro Station, Paris, 1900
For more great art content visit www.heni.com or visit the Heni Talks YouTube channel: www.youtube.com/@HENITalks
Hosts: Paul Greenhalgh & Stephanie Rozene
Additional Research: Catherine Ingram
Editor: Alessandro Ruocco
Executive Producer: Emma Cahusac
Chapters:
00:00 Introduction: Hector Guimard and French Art Nouveau
00:25 Tile as Architecture: The Third Component of Ceramics
03:57 Guimard's Early Life and Training in the Decorative Arts
08:34 The 1889 Paris World's Fair and New Technologies
10:38 Travels to London and Brussels: Discovering Art Nouveau
12:54 Defining Art Nouveau: Curvilinear Lines and Organic Forms
18:06 Art Nouveau as the First Modernism
19:48 Castel Béranger: Guimard's First Major Building