While the decadent artists tried to deal with the issues of death, suffering and destruction in their works, the spiritualists tried to cope with the themes by believing in the supernatural, in the afterlife, in things that are beyond grasp and far beyond the possibilities of human knowledge. This phenomenon influenced several generations of artists, began to spread through Europe in the second half of the 19th century, but retained its place throughout the first half of the 20th century, as Europe was involved in two world wars and there was no shortage of death and misfortune. The belief in communication with the dead found a strong foothold among ordinary people, especially in the mountain regions of the Giant Mountains and the Podkrkonoší Mountains, where spiritism became so intertwined with folk religiosity that it was inscribed as a UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage phenomenon.

The exhibition at the Liberec Regional Gallery will present the unconventional theme of spiritualism and decadence in the works of important Czech and Czech-German artists such as Josef Váchal, František Kobliha, Jan Konůpek, František Bílek, Max Švabinský, Jakub Schikaneder and František Kupka.