Alphonse Mucha is the undisputed icon of the spirit of 1900, his female figures embodying the collective image of the Belle Epoque. But Mucha was also, and above all, a Czech artist, viscerally attached to his native land and its people, whose destiny was turbulent.
Many of Mucha's Parisian works that made him such a popular success are gathered here. His long, dreamy, evanescent female figures, draped in flowing, vaporous veils, are a pleasure to rediscover, like old acquaintances. The undulating lines of the contours, the soft, muted flat colors, the exuberant, symbolic decorative vocabulary and the genius of the composition are the hallmarks of this great illustrator.
The second part of the museum invites you to discover the artist's other side. A long-time exile, Alfonse Mucha was also a staunch patriot, defending the Slavic people at a time when discontent was growing in the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Returning to Bohemia in 1910, he put his art at the service of the National Renewal movement, turning in his posters to Moravian folklore or the celebration of the Sokol sports organization. He also designed postage stamps and banknotes, emblems and symbols for the new Republic of 1918.
The Slav Epic, a set of 20 paintings, which the artist considered to be his greatest work, an immense lyrical, grandiose and prophetic song of his people's destiny, is on display outside of Prague, in Moravský Krumlov Castle, which is close to Alphonse Mucha's native village of Ivančice.
Mucha's works can also be found in St. Vitus Cathedral, where he created some of the stained glass windows in the nave, or in the Mayor's Lounge of the Municipal House, a collective building emblematic of Prague's Art Nouveau style.
