When Bing opened the Maison de l'Art Nouveau in 1895, the movement was well on its way, not just in France but across Europe. In Belgium, architects like Horta and Van de Velde had designed buildings filled with stylistic details inspired more by nature than any historical style.

The department store Liberty of London was selling items by Arts and Crafts designers that had a curvy, floral quality. And in Barcelona, Gaudí had built his first house, the Casa Vicens, that was an exuberant blend of colourful tiling and quirky architectural details. In other words, design was moving in a new direction, unconstrained by what had gone before, and with a new desire for highly decorated surfaces and sinuous lines.

Bing seemed hardly like the man who would bring all this into focus. Born in Germany to a wealthy merchant family, he was in charge of the family's porcelain business in France.

In 1871 he made Paris his home and in 1880, he travelled to Japan. The country had only just opened up to the outside world and interest in it was particularly intense in Paris, where Monet and other Impressionist artists were captivated by the unique quality of Japanese prints.

Bing was enchanted, too, not only by the prints of Hokusai and Hiroshige but also by the ceramics and the fabrics, and he set about importing much of it back to Paris. His passion led to him establishing an influential journal called Le Japon Artistique (Artistic Japan), which highlighted many aspects of the aesthetic of the country. As he saw the level of interest in it by contemporary artists and designers of all types, he began to promote their work, which led to him opening his Maison de l'Art Nouveau.

With interiors designed by Henry van de Velde and stained glass panels by Louis Comfort Tiffany, the gallery displayed fabrics by William Morris, glass by Gallé and jewellery by Lalique against a backdrop of older artefacts that Bing had collected in Japan. It was as though he was validating the new flair for decoration by showing the Japanese tradition of strong colour and asymmetrical composition along with their celebration of nature in everything from fabric designs to carving. It inspired the work of many artists as diverse as Aubrey Beardsley and Frank Brangwyn.

Bing's pavilion at the Paris Exposition in 1900 further magnified the style, with furniture and fabrics revelling in over-the-top colour and shape. The exhibition was the pinnacle of the Art Nouveau movement, with fantastical pavilions lining the Seine, every surface drenched in colour and design.