Net­work Vi­enna 1900

Adolphe Stoclet

Adolphe Stoclet was a Belgian businessman and an ardent collector of art. Together with his wife Suzanne, he commissioned Josef Hoffmann in 1904 to build a palace in Brussels that was to become a Gesamtkunstwerk of the Wiener Werkstätte. Gustav Klimt designed a tripartite mosaic frieze for its dining hall.

Adolphe Stoclet was born in Brussels in 1871. He studied engineering at the University of Brussels and specialized in railway engineering. After his graduation, his work as an engineer took him to Milan and then to Vienna in 1902, where he was involved in the reorganization of the Aspangbahn, a railway line owned by the Austro-Belgian Railway Company. During their two-year stay in Vienna, Adolphe and his wife Suzanne – both lovers of culture and the arts – socialized with many artists of the Vienna Secession, including the architect Josef Hoffmann.

The Palais Stoclet designed by Josef Hoffmann, around 1914, in: Moderne Bauformen. Monatshefte für Architektur und Raumkunst, 13. Jg. (1914).
© Heidelberg University Library

The Palais Stoclet designed by Josef Hoffmann, garden façade, around 1914, in: Moderne Bauformen. Monatshefte für Architektur und Raumkunst, 13. Jg. (1914).
© Heidelberg University Library

Stoclet Palace
In 1904, the Stoclets left Vienna for personal reasons and returned to Belgium, where Adolphe Stoclet became a director of the Société Générale de Belgique. In the same year, he commissioned Josef Hoffmann to build Stoclet Palace in Brussels; many artists of the Wiener Werkstätte contributed to its artistic decoration.

Two years later, in May 1906, the Stoclets visited the construction site on Avenue de Tervueren for the first time, together with Fritz Waerndorfer, Carl Otto Czeschka and Gustav Klimt, who were returning from London to Vienna. In May 1914, Klimt visited Brussels again and for the first time inspected the magnificent building, which had been completed in 1910/11, with the final execution of his design for the mosaic frieze in the dining hall, which had been realized by the Wiener Werkstätte and Leopold Forstner.

Stoclet’s Estate
Adolphe Stoclet remained a director of the Société Générale de Belgique until 1941. The last few years of his life were marred by an illness that greatly impaired his mobility. He died in 1949. The stately city palace and most of his opulent art collection – parts of which were auctioned off in 2018 – are still owned by the family.

Further contents

Literature and sources

  • Alice Strobl (Hg.): Gustav Klimt. Die Zeichnungen, Band II, 1904–1912, Salzburg 1982, S. 139-141.
  • Felix Czeike (Hg.): Historisches Lexikon Wien, Band 5, Vienna 1997, S. 648.
  • Felix Czeike (Hg.): Historisches Lexikon Wien, Band 1, Vienna 1992, S. 174-175.
  • Académie royale de Belgique (Hg.): Biographie Nationale, Band 33, Brussels 1965, Spalte 675-681.
  • Der Standard. Die fantastische Sammlung des Herrn Stoclet wird versteigert (07.10.2018). www.derstandard.at/story/2000088729968/die-sammlung-des-herrn-stocletaussereuropaeische-meisterwerke-werden-versteigert (04/01/2021).
  • Tobias G. Natter (Hg.): Gustav Klimt. Sämtliche Gemälde, Vienna 2012, S. 100-179.
  • Alfred Weidinger (Hg.): Gustav Klimt, Munich - Berlin - London - New York 2007, S. 289.
  • Sandra Tretter, Peter Weinhäupl (Hg.): Gustav Klimt. Sommerfrische am Attersee 1900-1916, Vienna 2015, S. 55-59, S. 75.
  • Christian Witt-Döring: Palais Stoclet, in: Christian Witt-Döring, Janis Staggs (Hg.): Wiener Werkstätte 1903-1932. The Luxury of Beauty, New York 2017, S. 368-409.
  • Christian Witt-Dörring: Das Palais Stoclet – ein Gesamtkunstwerk. Eine Schicksalsgemeinschaft von Auftraggeber und Wiener Werkstätte 1905-1911, in: Christoph Thun-Hohenstein, Matthias Boeckl, Rainald Franz, Christian Witt-Dörring (Hg.): Josef Hoffmann. 1870–1956. Fortschritt durch Schönheit, Ausst.-Kat., MAK - Museum of Applied Arts (Vienna), 15.12.2021–19.06.2022, Basel 2021, S. 145-148.
  • Agnes Husslein-Arco, Alfred Weidinger (Hg.): Gustav Klimt – Josef Hoffmann. Pioniere der Moderne, Ausst.-Kat., Lower Belvedere (Vienna) - Upper Belvedere (Vienna), 25.10.2011–04.03.2012, Munich 2011, S. 202-251.
  • Amalie Sara Levetus: Das Stoclethaus zu Brüssel von Architekt Josef Hoffmann, in: Moderne Bauformen. Monatshefte für Architektur und Raumkunst, 13. Jg. (1914), S. 1-34.