Alphonse Mucha, the exhibition at Paris Musée du Luxembourg

For its back-to-school 2018 exhibition, the Musée du Luxembourg pays tribute to Alphonse Mucha, the too-often forgotten representative of Art Nouveau. From September 12, 2018 to January 27, 2019, the museum brings together the great pieces that made up his work, from his posters to his illustrator's plates, but also his photographs, sculptures and preparatory studies, for a beautiful rediscovery!

The Musée du Luxembourg opens up the world ofAlphonse Mucha to us, from September 12, 2018 to January 27, 2019, with a fine exhibition. The last time Paris celebrated Alphonse Mucha was in 1980, and that was at the Grand Palais.

Born in Moravia in 1860, Alfonse Mucha arrived in Paris in 1887 to consolidate his knowledge of art at the Académie Julian, producing advertising posters and book illustrations to finance his studies. In December 1894, it was his meeting with the great tragedienne Sarah Bernhardt that launched his career as a poster artist, when he portrayed her as Cleopatra to promote the play Gismonda. Such was the success of this Art Nouveau poster that it was cut up in the streets of Paris, and Mucha was inundated with poster and illustration contracts.

If he excelled inArt Nouveau, it was thanks to several teachers: from Jules-Joseph Lefebvre, he kept the allegorical portraits of women, and from Jean-Paul Laurens, the great historical paintings in theatrical settings. This is howAlphonse Mucha's characteristic style was born: female figures with golden hair immortalized in front of beautiful backdrops, often featuring rosettes.

Contacted throughout Paris for book illustrations, posters and even restaurant decorations, and by jewelers such as Georges Fouquet, the artist never forgot his desire to become a painter dedicated to the national cause of his native country and the Slavic peoples.

This major Alphonse Mucha exhibition, organized by the RMN - Grand Palais, has been entrusted to Tomoko Sato, curator of the Mucha Foundation in Prague, who has brought together some great pieces to rediscover the first Mucha and to discover the second, to restore to this prolific artist all his artistic, political and spiritual complexity.

We loved it!

Please note that it's been over 4 years since our last visit, so the place and experience may have changed.