Alphonse Mucha's legacy takes off in a Baroque palace in Prague

PragueThe artist Alphonse Mucha (1860-1939) was not only a key figure in the Czech secession, but during his lifetime his impact extended throughout Europe and the United States. Indeed, the Chocolates Amatller company commissioned him to create their centenary poster in 1900, and the MNAC houses some of his posters from its collection. Plandiura. "When Mucha arrived in America in 1904, he was greeted with a cutout of himself on the pier in New York that read: 'Alphonse Mucha, the greatest artist in the world.' He was considered one of the greats of his time," recalls his great-grandson, Marcus Mucha, at the new Mucha Museum, opened earlier this year and promoted by Prague, which has been renovated by local architect Eva Jiricna. "It's a beautiful Baroque palace, one of the most beautiful buildings in Prague, and the main hall of the museum is a former Baroque ballroom," says Mucha, who is also the foundation's executive director. "And if you look out the windows, right across the street is the theater where Mozart conducted the premiere ofDon Giovanni", he adds.

The tour is organized chronologically: the works displayed in the first section, some previously unseen, evoke his Czech identity, his family roots, and the path that led him to Paris. "In the Parisian section, there are, of course, the iconic lithographs, but we also added a new approach: Mucha was fascinated by the science of the time, especially by studies of physiognomy and the psychology of gaze. In his posters, he applied this knowledge to guide the eye from the gesture to the cone to the cone to the cone to the cone through the gaze to the cone; he wanted to," explains Marcus Mucha.

The new museum also incorporates materials from the immersive exhibition on the artist that was on display in Paris two years ago. "Our goal is twofold: to offer the Czech public a new way of appreciating their national artist and, at the same time, to show new facets to international visitors," says the great-grandson. However, the opening of the new Mucha Museum was not without controversy, as it led the artist's heirs to remove the works they had stored in the previous museum dedicated to the artist in Prague, which is still open.

The transformation from artist to thinker

The second part of the permanent exhibition is entitledFrom the New World to Utopia, and represents a shift from the previous one. "The Mucha of the second half of his life was not only an artist, but a thinker: he believed that art could unite cultures, be a universal good for humanity, and build bridges instead of walls," says the great-grandson. "His affiliation with Czech Freemasonry also had a great influence," he explains. This transformation occurred gradually, starting from the moment the Austro-Hungarian Empire commissioned him to design a pavilion for the new province of Bosnia and Herzegovina at the Paris World's Fair.

"In 1900, Mucha was living a brilliant moment in Paris: he was rich, famous, and well-connected with figures such as the Lumière brothers, who made the first film tests in his studio; Auguste Rodin; and Paul Gauguin, with whom he shared an apartment," says the great-grandson. But, nevertheless, he felt unhappy. "When he received the commission for the pavilion, he made research trips, during which he felt a great affinity with the South Slavic peoples, who reminded him of his native Moravia. He understood that, while he enjoyed success and comfort, these communities lived oppressed and without freedom. Philosophical and utopian," he explains.

This whole process culminated in the cycle of twenty gigantic paintings of The Slavic epic. They are too large to be displayed in this building – they are stored in Moravia, in the Moravský Krumlov castle, near Mucha's birthplace – and are planned to be shown in a dedicated space designed by British architect Thomas Heatherwick, of which the Mucha Museum complex is the first completed part.

An artist of "little use" to the communist rulers

The worldwide recognition of Mucha's legacy is relatively recent: in communist Czechoslovakia, his work was considered "ideologically useless," says the great-grandson, to the point that there were plans to destroy the Slavic epic cycle. "My father hadn't been able to study here under the communist regime and had to leave for England in 1966. He met my English mother, and my siblings and I were born and raised there. We knew our great-grandfather was an artist, but we didn't expect to be able to return to Prague," recalls the great-grandson. The situation changed after the Velvet Revolution of 1968, and the research that began to be carried out revealed the extent to which his work had been undervalued. "We have inherited this legacy: protecting works is essential, but so is disseminating them. Alphonse believed that art made people a little happier, and that happiness generated goodness. If people are kinder, the world becomes a better place," says the great-grandson.

A source of inspiration for invisible communities

Despite the critical scorn Mucha received for many years, his great-grandson asserts his relevance because "he connected with communities traditionally made invisible within the history of Western art." "In the 1970s, the pioneers of female manga in Japan found in him a symbol of freedom to challenge established gender roles," explains Marcus Mucha. "In the United Kingdom and the United States, his style inspired the psychedelic movement. And in the 1990s, American comic book artists such as Joe Quesada, who was the editor in 2010, embraced his influence."

Marcus Mucha also highlights the mark his great-grandfather has left on manifestations of popular culture such as thestreet art, tattoos and the aesthetics of video games and series likeArcane"That's what makes him so democratic and universal: he himself said that his art wasn't for the elite, but for everyone," he concludes.

In the field of architecture, the Savarin project, to which the museum belongs, is one of the largest urban development projects in central Prague, covering an area of 15,000 m². It includes the reconstruction of existing historic buildings and the creation of a new public space with green areas and commercial areas. The project was led by Thomas Heatherwick, known for works such as Little Island Park in New York, a green space elevated above the Hudson River by 132 concrete columns.