Editing Alphonse Mucha (section)

== Munich ==
[[File:Portraits of Saints Cyril and Methodius Pisek Alphonse Mucha 1887.jpg|thumb|200px| Portrait of [[Saints Cyril and Methodius]] for the Roman Catholic church in [[Pisek, North Dakota]] (1887)]]
Count Belasi decided to bring Mucha to Munich for formal training, and paid his tuition fees and living expenses at the [[Munich Academy of Fine Arts]]. He moved there in September 1885.{{sfn|Thiébaut|2018|page=19}}{{Sfn|Sato|2015|page=11}} It is not clear how Mucha actually studied at the Munich Academy; there is no record of his being enrolled as a student there. However, he did become friends with a number of notable Slavic artists there, including the Czechs [[Karel Vítězslav Mašek]] and [[Ludek Marold]] and the Russian [[Leonid Pasternak]], father of the famous poet and novelist [[Boris Pasternak]].{{Sfn|Sato|2015|page=12-13}} 

He founded a Czech students' club, and contributed political illustrations to nationalist publications in Prague. In 1886, he received a notable commission for a painting of the Czech patron saints [[Cyril and Methodius]] from a group of Czech emigrants, including some of his relatives, who had founded a Roman Catholic church in the town of [[Pisek, North Dakota]].{{sfn|Thiébaut|2018|page=20}} He was very happy with the artistic environment of Munich: he wrote to friends, "Here I am in my new element, painting. I cross all sorts of currents, but without effort, and even with joy. Here, for the first time,  I can find the objectives to reach which used to seem inaccessible." However, he found he could not remain forever in Munich; the Bavarian authorities imposed increasing restrictions upon foreign students and residents.  Count Belasi suggested that he travel either to Rome or to Paris. With Belasi's financial support, he decided in 1887 to move to Paris.{{sfn|Thiébaut|2018|page=22}}