Editing Alphonse Mucha (section)

==Move to Prague and ''The Slav Epic'' (1910–1928)==
{{Main|The Slav Epic}}
During his long stay in Paris, Mucha had never given up his dream of being a history painter and to illustrate accomplishments of the [[Slavic people]]s of Europe. He completed his plans for the ''Slav Epic'' in 1908 and 1909, and in February 1910, Charles Crane agreed to fund the project. In 1909, he had been offered a commission to paint murals on the interior of the new city hall of [[Prague]]. He made the decision to return to his old country, still then part of the Austrian Empire. He wrote to his wife, "I will be able to do something really good, not just for the art critic but for our Slav souls."{{Sfn|Sato|2015|page=73}}

His first project in 1910 was the decoration of the reception room of the mayor of Prague.{{Sfn|Thiébaut|2018|page=162}} This quickly became controversial, because local Prague artists resented the work being given to an artist they considered an outsider. A compromise was reached, whereby he decorated the Lord Mayor's Hall, while the other artists decorated the other rooms. He designed and created a series of large-scale murals for the domed ceiling and walls with athletic figures in heroic poses, depicting the contributions of Slavs to European history over the centuries, and the theme of Slavic unity. These paintings on the ceiling and walls were in sharp contrast to his Parisian work, and were designed to send a patriotic message.{{Sfn|Sato|2015|page=78}}

The Lord Mayor's Hall was finished in 1911, and Mucha was able to devote his attention to what he considered his most important work; ''The Slav Epic'', a series of large paintings illustrating the achievements of the Slavic peoples over history. The series had twenty paintings, half devoted to the history of the [[Czechs]], and ten to other Slavic peoples ([[Russians]], [[Polish people|Poles]], [[Serbs]], [[Hungarians]], [[Bulgarians]], and the [[Balkan peoples|Balkans]], including the Orthodox monasteries of [[Mount Athos]]. The canvases were enormous; the finished works measured six by eight meters. To paint them he rented an apartment and a studio in the Zbiroh Castle in western Bohemia, where he lived and worked until 1928.{{Sfn|Sato|2015|page=78}}

While living in Paris Mucha had imagined the series as "light shining into the souls of all people with its clear ideals and burning warnings." To prepare the project he traveled to all the Slavic countries, from Russia and Poland to the Balkans, making sketches and taking photographs. He used costumed models and still and motion picture cameras to set the scenes, often encouraging the models to create their own poses. He used egg tempera paint, which, according to his research, was quicker-drying and more luminous, and would last longer.{{Sfn|Sato|2015|page=78}}

He created the twenty canvases between 1912 and 1926.  He worked throughout the [[First World War]], when the Austrian Empire was at war with France, despite wartime restrictions, which made canvas hard to obtain. He continued his work after the war ended, when the new Czechoslovak Republic was created. The cycle was completed in 1928 in time for the tenth anniversary of the proclamation of the Czechoslovak Republic.{{citation needed|date=July 2019}}

Under the conditions of his contract he donated his work to the city of Prague in 1928. The ''Slav Epic'' was shown in Prague twice in his lifetime, in 1919 and 1928. After 1928 it was rolled up and put into storage.{{Sfn|Sato|2015|page=78}}

From 1963 until 2012 the series was on display in the chateau in [[Moravský Krumlov]] in the [[South Moravian Region]] in the Czech Republic. In 2012 the series was put on display at the [[National Gallery in Prague|National Gallery's Veletržní Palace]] in Prague.<ref>{{cite news|last=Jiřičná |first=Klára |url=http://www.praguepost.com/opinion/13149-slav-epic-finally-on-display.html|title=Slav Epic finally on display |date=16 May 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140729215321/http://www.praguepost.cz/opinion/13149-slav-epic-finally-on-display.html |archive-date=29 July 2014 |url-status=live |work=[[The Prague Post]] }}</ref> In 2021 it was announced that a new, permanent home would be found for the paintings in central Prague, to be completed in 2026.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.theartnewspaper.com/2021/01/22/art-nouveau-pioneer-alphonse-muchas-slav-epic-finds-a-home-at-lastand-its-designed-by-thomas-heatherwick|title=Art Nouveau pioneer Alphonse Mucha's Slav Epic finds a home at last—and it's designed by Thomas Heatherwick |date=22 January 2021 }}</ref>

While he was working on the ''Slav Epic'', he also did work for the Czech government. In 1918, he designed the [[Czechoslovak koruna|korun]]  bank note, with the image of Slavia, the daughter of his American patron Charles Crane.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.muchafoundation.org/about/charles-crane |access-date=19 November 2018 |title=Charles Crane |work=Mucha Foundation}}</ref> He also designed postage stamps for his new country. He declined commercial work, but did make occasional posters for philanthropic and cultural events, such as the Lottery of the Union of Southwestern Moravia, and for Prague cultural events.{{Sfn|Thiébaut|2018|page=162–166}}

<gallery mode="packed" heights="150px">
CZE-17-Republika Ceskoslovenska-100 Korun (1920).jpg|Mucha-designed artwork on a 1920 Czechoslovak Republic [[Banknotes of the Czechoslovak koruna (1919)|100 Czechoslovak korun note]]
File:The Municipal House (Obecni Dum) ceiling, Prague - 8875.jpg|Decorated ceiling of Municipal House in Prague (1910–1912)
File:Winter Night 1920 60x73cm.jpg|''Woman in the Wilderness'', depicting a Russian peasant dying during a famine (detail; 1923)
File:Détail - Vitrail Mucha.JPG|Stained glass window by Mucha for [[Saint Vitus Cathedral]], Prague (1931)
File:Photographic selfportrait of Alfons Mucha, 1928.jpg|Mucha in Prague (1928)
</gallery>

===Making of ''The Slav Epic''===
<gallery mode="packed" heights="200">
File:Overview of Veletržní Palác with The Slav Epic, Prague.JPG|Mucha's ''[[The Slav Epic]]'' as it appeared in the [[National Gallery of Prague]]
File:Alfons Mucha at work on Slav Epic.jpg|Mucha at work on ''[[The Slav Epic]]'' (1920s)
File:Mucha photo low res.jpg|Photographic study for ''The Meeting at Krǐžky'' by Alfons Mucha, 1914/1915, probably collodion. 
</gallery>

{{Clear}} <!-- don't remove, technical -->
<gallery mode="packed" heights="150" caption="The Slav Epic">
File:Slovane v pravlasti 81x61m.jpg|Mucha's ''[[The Slav Epic]]'' cycle No.1: ''The Slavs in Their Original Homeland'' (1912)
File:Slavnost svatovitova na rujane.jpg|Mucha's ''The Slav Epic'' cycle No.2: ''The Celebration of Svantovít'' (1912)
File:Zavedeni slovanske liturgie na velke morave.jpg|Mucha's ''The Slav Epic'' cycle No.3: ''Introduction of the Slavonic Liturgy in Great Moravia'' (1912)
File:Car Simeon Bulharsky - Alfons Mucha.jpg|Mucha's ''The Slav Epic'' cycle No.4: ''Tsar Simeon I of Bulgaria'' (1923)
File:Premysl otakar ii kral zelezny a zlaty.jpg|Mucha's ''The Slav Epic'' cycle No.5: ''King Přemysl Otakar II of Bohemia'' (1924)
File:Coronation of Emperor Dušan, in "The Slavonic Epic" (1926).jpg|Mucha's ''The Slav Epic'' cycle No.6: ''The Coronation of Serbian Tsar Štěpán Dušan'' (1926)
File:Jan milic z kromerize.jpg|Mucha's ''The Slav Epic'' cycle No.7: ''Milíč of Kroměříž'' (1916)
File:Kazani mistra jana husa v kapli betlemske 81x61m.jpg|Mucha's ''The Slav Epic'' cycle No.8: ''Master Jan Hus Preaching at the Bethlehem Chapel: Truth Prevails'' (1916)
File:Mucha Na Krizku.jpg|Mucha's ''The Slav Epic'' cycle No.9: The Meeting at Křížky (1916)
File:After the Battle of Grunwald - Alfons Mucha.jpg|Mucha's ''The Slav Epic'' cycle No.10: ''After the Battle of Grunewald'' (1924)
File:Po bitvě na Vítkově.jpg|Mucha's ''The Slav Epic'' cycle No.11: ''After the Battle of Vítkov'' (1916)
File:Petr chelcicky.jpg|Mucha's ''The Slav Epic'' cycle No.12: ''Petr of Chelčice'' (1918)
File:Mucha Jiri z Podebrad.jpg|Mucha's ''The Slav Epic'' cycle No.13: ''The Hussite King Jiří z Podĕbrad'' (1923)
File:Mucha defense of Szigetvar.jpg|Mucha's ''The Slav Epic'' cycle No.14: ''Defense of Sziget against the Turks by Nicholas Zrinsky'' (1914)
File:Mucha Skola Ivancice.jpg|Mucha's ''The Slav Epic'' cycle No.15: ''The Printing of the Bible of Kralice in Ivančice'' (1914)
File:Mucha Komenius.jpg|Mucha's ''The Slav Epic'' cycle No.16: ''Jan Amos Komenský'' (1918)
File:Mucha, Alfons - Der Heilige Berg Athos - 1926.jpg|Mucha's ''The Slav Epic'' cycle No.17: ''The Holy Mount Athos'' (1926)
File:Mucha Omladina.jpg|Mucha's ''The Slav Epic'' cycle No.18: ''The Oath of Omladina under the Slavic Linden Tree'' (1926)
File:Mucha Zruseni nevolnictvi.jpg|Mucha's ''The Slav Epic'' No.19: ''The Abolition of Serfdom in Russia'' (1914)
File:Mucha Apoteoza.jpg|Mucha's ''The Slav Epic'' cycle No.20: ''The Apotheosis of the Slavs, Slavs for Humanity'' (1926)
</gallery>