Alfons Mucha – The Slav Epic

The Slav Epic is a set of 20 large-format Alfons Mucha´s Art Nouveau canvases summarizing the history of Czechs and other Slavic nations.

The paintings are inspired by Slavic mythology and history of the Czechs and Moravians. The current installation respects Mucha’s original thematic layout of The Slav Epic, observing the chronological order of its individual parts. In 1928, Mucha devoted the cycle to Prague.

Venue: Trade Fair Palace (Veletržní Palace), Great Hall

Organizer: The City of Prague with the support of City Gallery Prague

Admission: The Slav Epic only – 180 CZK, students – 90 CZK, Trade Fair Palace incl. The Slav Epic – 400 CZK

A monumental cycle to which it would be hard to find a parallel elsewhere in the world is now being presented to the general public in its magnificent completeness. The cycle’s thematic range spans a broad spectrum, from suggestive scenes of mythological Slavic antiquity with pagan worship practices, through representations of historically documented milestones, to the last canvas in the series, featuring a vision of the Slavs’ spiritual contribution to the entire human family. In ten of the paintings, Mucha treated as many episodes from the Czech history, producing a core “Czech epic” which came to constitute a conceptual axis of the cycle whose remaining ten canvases are devoted to other Slavic peoples, and to pan-Slavic scenes.