From 27 October 2023 to 7 April 2024, the Museo degli Innocenti will host the first exhibition in Florence dedicated to Alphonse Mucha, the most important Czech artist, father of Art Nouveau and creator of iconic images.

Alphonse Mucha was born in Ivancice, in the Czech Republic, in 1860: a fervent patriot and supporter of the political freedom of the Slavic peoples, he devoted himself to art and in 1887 he moved to Paris where he refined his arts and met the woman who would change his life forever. life, Sarah Bernhardt, the most beautiful and famous actress of the time, who entrusts her image to Mucha making him very popular. The myth of the "women of Mucha" was born, and companies competed for it to advertise their products, giving life to the timeless advertising campaigns such as that of Nestlé chocolate, Moët & Chandon champagne, and even cigarettes, beer, biscuits and perfumes.

However, Mucha does not forget the patriotic and social commitment. In 1910 he returned to Prague and dedicated himself for almost twenty years to what is considered his greatest masterpiece, the Slavic Epic, a colossal work made up of twenty enormous canvases in which he recounts the main events in Slavic history. Mucha will die in Prague in 1939.

In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Paris was considered the center of the art world. It is the so-called Belle Époque, there is great enthusiasm, and Alphonse Mucha, also thanks to the meeting with Sara Bernhardt, becomes the most famous and sought-after artist of the time. His works, illustrations, theatrical posters and nascent advertising are accessible to all. A new form of communication was born with him: the beauty of young girls in bloom, portrayed in a unique mix of sacred and profane, voluptuous and seductive figures, represented with a unique compositional style, have become characteristics of the famous "Mucha style". His images immediately become famous all over the world, his style is the most imitated, the powerful beauty of his women enters everyone's collective imagination.

It is to this great artist that Arthemisia and the Museo degli Innocenti are dedicating the next major Florentine exhibition. Under the patronage of the Municipality of Florence and the Embassy of the Czech Republic, the exhibition is organized in collaboration with the Mucha Foundation and In Your Event by Cristoforo and is curated by Tomoko Sato with the collaboration of Francesca Villanti.