Mucha Mucha Mucha!

Since studying at Prague, I’ve been exposed to a wide range of art- from gothic cathedrals to cubist buildings. However, my favorite artist and most appealing art to me is by Alphonse Mucha. His work is characterized by colorful palettes, beautiful women, and long long hair. As an amateur painter myself, I’ve always been attracted to really bold and colorful paintings. My favorite artist being Henri Matisse. Similar to Matisse, Mucha elongates and purposely disproportions his subjects.
I’ve yet to go to the Mucha Museum, but already I am in love with his art-nouveau style. Its interesting to see Mucha’s influence across the world: from Paris, the US, to Prague. His life is a success story, where once a struggling artist he became famous overnight by doing posters for a Parisian actress Sarah Bernhardt. Traveling across to world, he finally settled back in his home town to paint more about his hometown. Last week I went to the St. Vitus cathedral where one of the stained glass windows was done by Mucha. It was easy to pick him out by his use of various colors. He used bright greens and oranges, in comparison to more subtle and limited colors done by other artists.

When I first saw his work, I would have never guessed that it was by a Czech artist. It was, in my opinion, untimely of his era to create such light-hearted and relaxed portrayals of women.

Today, when walking around Prague, I am overwhelmed by the wide range of styles present. I am struck by gothic architecture everywhere, yet artists like Mucha appear as accents around the city. I remember first arriving in Prague, seeing only the more stiff and dark side of Prague. But today, I see a completely different side of Prague I would have never imagined.