It arose in 1815 and existed until 1848, mostly in Austria and Germany, but spreading its influence throughout Europe. The name was given by the name of Gottlieb Biedermeier.

The modern style of the interior received an unusual name from the German surname "Biedermeier", literally translated as "the gallant Mr. Meyer". This word became the personification of philistinism, the main goal of which was a calm and measured life.

Biedermeier is the heir to the Empire style, sometimes it is called the simplified Empire style. The style of the middle class, the style of simple German burghers, arose in contrast to the ceremonial expensive Empire style of Napoleon and the top of the nobility. Replacing the pretentious and "uninhabited" Empire style, Biedermeier began to glorify comfort, simple human values, the world of things that express the worldview of the middle class, the philistine and the bourgeoisie. The interior has again turned into a residential one, the coldness, clarity of symmetrical shapes and proportions are gone. All attention to comfort, convenience, functionality of objects, classic forms, slightly simplified, modified for the sake of practicality and human needs.

Features of the Biedermeier style.

To recreate the Biedermeier style are used:
- the colors are bright. Favorite motive - naturalistically interpreted flowers
- floral ornament and stripes, they are everywhere - on wallpaper, carpets, fabrics, upholstery
- inexpensive fabrics: striped reps and colorful chintz instead of chic silk upholstery
- wood-birch and maple instead of mahogany and ebony
- veneering, gilding, black varnish, glass, embroidery, wallpaper, carpets, fringes
- the windows were decorated with light muslin curtains and heavy curtains with fringes and tassels along the edges
- draws means of artistic expression in antiquity, but abolishes the columns and pilasters inherent in the style, giving preference to rounded shapes
- soft bending of the backs of sofas, armchairs and chairs. Popular sofas and sofas, functional furniture, furniture with mechanisms, sliding tables, tables with retractable or folding tabletops, chairs that can be transformed into a library staircase, secretaries and trellises with drawers, a showcase glazed on one or three sides, bureaus
- decoration on furniture: cornucopia, swans, lyres, griffins, laurel and oak branches and garlands. The reliefs were covered with gilding and black varnish, processing was used, such as turning, bending, carving
- passion for oriental furnishings: smoking and Turkish rooms, Chinese and Japanese interior items.

A "clean room" appears in the house for receiving guests, decorated with decorative objects, watercolors, miniatures, embroideries and souvenirs, often made by the owners of the house.
In the middle of the 19th century, Biedermeier ended as an artistic style. The ideas of impressionism and realism were in the air, and therefore young artists left the cozy niche of Biedermeier with almost no regrets. And for the layman, an ordinary person, this style was a way of life and therefore existed in everyday life and interiors for a long time, gradually giving way to the German Art Nouveau, "Jugendstil".

Present Germany deeply reveres its Biedermeier, not allowing to call it "philistine and philistine". German family and everyday culture is based on the values of the Biedermeier, and it was also the source of its origin. The phenomenon itself turned out to be much broader than initially assumed, and in the culture of every European country in the middle of the 19th century, we will find echoes of the German Biedermeier.

Convenience, functionality of objects, classic forms, slightly simplified and modified for the sake of practicality, brightness, cheerfulness of fabrics - this artistic style is more than any other devoid of ideology and is close to human needs.

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The continuation of the review on interior styles follows ...


Thanks to me and the sources for the information.
Sincerely yours, Tatiana Antonchenko