Alphonse Mucha is acclaimed for his distinctly stylized and decorative Art Nouveau illustrated posters and prints — particularly those depicting beautiful French actress and famous artists’ muse Sarah Bernhardt. His work remains widely loved by everyone from bohemian students to serious collectors.
Mucha and his contemporaries treated femininity as the antidote to the impersonal, masculine world of the industrial revolution — it was to be celebrated and embraced. He fervently believed that art is a crucial, enjoyable benefit to humankind, and it should be accessible to as many people as possible.
Mucha showed an early talent for drawing. Rejected when he applied to the Academy of Fine Arts in Prague in 1878, he traveled to Vienna — two years later at the age of 19 — and found work painting theater backdrops. After a tragic fire that destroyed the theater that employed him, he returned home and began painting portraits. Count Eduard Khuen Belasi hired Mucha to paint a series of murals for his residence.
In 1885, the Count sent Mucha to the Munich Academy of Fine Arts — paying his tuition and living expenses. Mucha moved to Paris in 1888 to continue his studies, where he shared a studio with Paul Gauguin. There, he became enamored with the nude female form and allegorical studies. He enjoyed some financial success with magazine illustration work, which led to lucrative book illustration commissions. One of Mucha’s illustrations for the book Scenes and Episodes of German History received a medal of honor at the 1894 Paris Salon of Artists.
In 1894, Mucha began a six-year contract for the acclaimed stage actress Sarah Bernhardt, creating posters for her shows and tours. His first poster was an immediate sensation and cemented his fame in the Art Nouveau poster artist community.
Mucha designed some of the most famous posters of the era — a time when these works were key to the fabric of the cosmopolitan thoroughfare in the French capital. He created advertisements for JOB cigarette papers, Ruinart champagne, Lefèvre-Utile biscuits and Moët-Chandon champagne. Although Mucha is renowned for his posters, he spent the latter half of his life on decorative panel works and Czech nationalist artworks — many of them in the collection at the Mucha Museum in Prague.
Find original Alphonse Mucha nude prints, figurative prints, wall decorations and other art on 1stDibs.
Four Alphonse Mucha Lithographs The Times Of The Day
By Alphonse Mucha
Located in Dallas, TX
Alphonse Mucha (1860-1939) Four lithographs on wove paper For serious collectors and museum collections. A full set of Mucha’s iconic period lithographs representing The Times Of Th...
Lithograph
Price Upon Request
"Obraz-Divka (The Girl)" - Original Alphonse Mucha Portrait Painting from 1911
By Alphonse Mucha
Located in Carmel, CA
"The Girl - A Study for the Slav Epic" is an authentic original work by the celebrated Art Nouveau icon, Alphonse Mucha. Dating back to 1911, this oil on linen is a profound piece of...
Oil, Linen
$2,157Sale Price|20% Off
H 28.5 in W 24 in
Portrait of a Woman, Lady in Black Coat & Hat, Oil on Canvas, Paris School 1910s
Located in Plymouth, England
Early 20th-Century French Portrait of a Seated Woman in a Black Coat & Wide-Brimmed Hat by Louis Pierre Amiel, signed in the lower right and in a vintage gilt frame. A refined e...
Canvas, Oil
$3,598
H 28.15 in W 25.99 in D 1.19 in
Parisian French Cancan Montmatre Paris Portrait Belle Epoque
Located in PARIS, FR
Pierre-André Farcy, known as Andry-Farcy (1882–1950) French Cancan Oil on canvas 61 × 50 cm (24 × 19.7 in.) 71.5 × 66 cm (28.1 × 26 in.) framed Signed lower left Best remembered tod...
Cotton Canvas, Oil
$7,900
H 48 in W 38 in D 2 in
Large Antique Signed European Equestrian Portrait Oil Painting Late 19th Century
Located in Palm Coast, FL
This magnificent large-scale oil on canvas is an outstanding example of European academic painting, created in the late nineteenth to early twentieth century and executed in the gran...
Oil
$1,686Sale Price|40% Off
H 42.92 in W 31.11 in
Bohemian French painter - Early 20th century figure painting - Nude female
Located in Varmo, IT
French Bohemian painter (early 20th century) - Female nude. 100 x 70 cm without frame, 109 x 79 cm with frame. Antique oil painting on canvas, in a gilded wooden frame (some cracks...
Oil, Canvas
$2,811
H 10.24 in Dm 10.24 in
Portrait of Noblewoman - Oil on Canvas by Anonymous Master Early 20th Century
Located in Roma, IT
Beautiful circular oil on canvas representing the portrait of a Noblewoman dressed in Art Nouveau Style. It includes a contemporary black wooden frame. Very good conditions.
Oil
$1,439Sale Price|20% Off
H 21.66 in W 18.12 in
Portrait of the painter Louis Degallaix (1877-1951), 1910
Located in PARIS, FR
Henri BOUCHÉ-LECLERCQ (1878-1946) Portrait of the painter Louis Degallaix (1877-1951), 1910 Oil on canvas Signed, dated “1910” and dedicated “à mon ami Degallaix” lower right 55 x 4...
Canvas, Oil
$7,758
H 34.65 in W 29.14 in D 2.76 in
Leon Tirode Original Antique Art Nouveau Figurative Oil Painting, The Autumn
Located in Gavere, BE
An evocative French Art Nouveau portrait by Léon Tirode (1873–1956), created circa 1920 and entitled “Allegory of Autumn.” This exceptional oil on canvas depicts an elegant young wo...
Gold Leaf
$5,621
H 19.3 in W 16.15 in D 1.19 in
Women Belle Epoque French Symbolist portrait Art nouveau
Located in PARIS, FR
Lucien Joseph Coront Ducluzeau, known as Joseph Coront (1859–1934) Symbolist Portrait, circa 1900 Oil on canvas 40.5 × 32.5 cm 49 × 41 cm framed Signed “Coront” lower right Born in...
Canvas, Oil
$3,200Sale Price|20% Off
H 18.9 in W 30.52 in
Beautiful Italian Art Nouveau Portrait of two women
By Adriano Goby
Located in New York, NY
Beautiful Italian Art Nouveau style portrait of two women by Adriano Goby. Signed low-right.
Canvas, Oil
$1,200
H 36.25 in W 28 in D 1.5 in
Art Nouveau Ballerina Painting by Mystery European Artist
Located in New York, NY
Mystery European Artist Untitled, c. 20th Century Oil on canvas board 31 x 22 3/4 in. Framed: 36 1/4 x 28 x 1 1/2 in. Signed lower right
Canvas, Oil, Board
$2,473Sale Price|26% Off
H 32.68 in W 28.35 in
Emilio Magistretti (Milanese painter) - 19th century nude figure with tiger
By Emilio Magistretti
Located in Varmo, IT
Emilio Magistretti (Milan 1851 - Milan 1936) - Young Woman with a Tiger. 67 x 56 cm (without frame) - 83 x 72 cm (with frame). Oil on canvas, in a period carved and lacquered woode...
Canvas, Oil
$1,840Sale Price|20% Off
H 23.63 in W 19.69 in D 0.79 in
Suspicious Mr. J (grey monochrome vintage portrait Botany nostalgia man hat)
By Rudolf Kosow
Located in Quebec, Quebec
keywords; surrealism, portrait, oil painting, earth tones, figurative painting, strangeness, contemporary surrealistic, unsettling, contemporary figurative painting, dreams, symbolic...
Canvas, Oil
$10,681
H 57.09 in W 94.49 in D 3.94 in
Nymph with Child Feeding Swallows, Herman Richir, Brussels 1866 – 1942
By Herman Richir
Located in Knokke, BE
Nymph with Child Feeding Swallows Richir Herman Brussels 1866 – 1942 Belgian Painter Signature: Attributed to Richir Herman Dimensions: Image size 140 x 235 cm, frame size 145 x 240 cm Medium: Oil on canvas Biography: Richir Herman Jean Joseph was born in Ixelles (Brussels), on November 4, 1866. He was a Belgian painter of portraits, still lifes, genre paintings, nudes and landscapes. He made decorative paintings to fit into private homes. Richir mainly painted portraits. His clients usually belonged to the higher circles. He portrayed amongst others King Albert and Queen Elisabeth, Cardinal Mercier and Countess d’Oultremont. Less known are the landscape paintings he made Limburg and Kempen, where he regularly stayed with befriended artist Emile Van Doren (1865 – 1949). Herman Richir first studied at the Sint-Joost-ten-Node Academy with Gustave Biot and Charles Hermans, continued his education at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Brussels (1884-1889) with the master teacher and artist Jean-Francois Portaels (1818 – 1895). In 1886, during his studies, he won second Prize of Rome for Painting. Richir lived in Schaarbeek. In 1900 he became a teacher of drawing and in 1905 first teacher of painting after nature at the Brussels Academy. He was director there several times 1906-1907, 1910, 1911, 1915-1919, 1925-1927. He was retired in 1927. His pupils included Albert Alleman (1892 – 1933), Éliane de Meuse (1899 – 1993), Paul Hagemans (1884 – 1959), Maurice...
Canvas, Oil
$5,621
H 20.87 in W 13.78 in
Dipinto figurativo ritratto maschile toscano del XIX secolo
By Aleardo Villa
Located in Florence, IT
Il dipinto è firmato a destra AVILLA. Aleardo Villa è stato allievo di Giuseppe Bertini e Bartolomeo Giuliano e ha frequentato l'Accademia di Brera, diventando piuttosto famoso in tu...
Canvas, Oil
$11,243
H 36.23 in W 28.75 in D 1.19 in
Red-Haired Woman in the Studio, Oil on Canvas, Art Nouveau, Circa 1907
Located in PARIS, FR
Harry Bloomfield (1883–1941) The Red-Haired Woman in the Studio, circa 1907 92 x 73 cm Oil on canvas Signed lower left Born in London, Harry Bloomfield spent most of his artistic ca...
Canvas, Oil