A romantic glow illuminates the pastoral lake in Walter Leistikow's (1865-1908) Evening Mood at Schlachtensee (cover). The aquatic smooth surface reflects light and the surrounding tall trees, belying the turmoil of the German art world at the time of Leistikow's painting. Only mild ripples mar the luminous water at the edge of Grunewald forest: no such placidity could be conferred upon the era of the Berlin Secession and its companion movements, the Munich and Vienna Secessions. The Arts and Crafts school, Art Nouveau, the German Jugendstil, and Impressionism were all factors in the gestation of the first Secession, which took place in Munich in 1892 (JAMA cover, April 1, 2009). Berlin, considered a second city—art-wise—when compared with its Bavarian sister Munich, followed with its own Secession, which exhibited for the first time in May 1899. Leistikow served as one of its main instigators, along with fellow painter Max Liebermann (JAMA covers, April 28, 2004, and August 8, 2007).