Alphonse Mucha, an artist celebrated for his flowery Art Nouveau posters, considered his masterpiece to be a series of 20 monumental canvases known as the Slav Epic. This cycle, a testament to his ambition to strengthen Czech national identity, has been the subject of a decades-long saga involving legal battles, family disputes, and a city’s broken promise. Though a new museum in Prague is now dedicated to the artist, the originals of the Slav Epic still await their promised home in the capital, remaining for the time being in a small Moravian town near Brno and not far from Vienna (buy tickets for the visit HERE).
The Slav Epic paintings are currently on display at the Renaissance manor house in Moravsky Krumlov, a town about 200 kilometers from Prague. This arrangement, which began in 1963, came about after the cycle spent years without a permanent home. Mucha’s donation of the works to Prague in 1928 was conditional on the city building a proper, custom-built space to house them. That promise was never fulfilled, and the works were eventually moved to the small town for safekeeping. The cycle has been so popular there that last year alone, it drew around 33,000 visitors, roughly doubling the castle’s usual attendance. Prague has just extended its loan agreement with the town until at least 2031, acknowledging that the location has proven to be a good one, with all technical and preservation standards being met.
While Prague has finally approved a plan to house the Slav Epic, it will be some time before the canvases make the journey. A new, dedicated Mucha Museum has opened in the city’s Savarin Palace. This stylish Baroque building, located on a busy shopping street, is the result of a recent agreement between the city and Mucha’s family, finally putting an end to years of legal wrangling. However, this new museum will not be the permanent home for the entire Slav Epic. It’s intended as an initial showcase for Mucha’s work, and the current plan is to temporarily display the paintings there once the palace is fully restored. For now, visitors to Prague can only see high-quality photographic replicas of some of the canvases at the new museum, a fact that has left some people disappointed.
The long-running conflict over the paintings’ ownership and location has been a source of confusion for the public. The disputes began when Prague’s City Hall decided to move the epic from Moravsky Krumlov in 2010, citing the poor condition of the castle. Mucha’s grandson, John Mucha, filed a lawsuit, arguing that the city had violated the original agreement set by his grandfather. Although that lawsuit was eventually dismissed, the cycle’s journey from Moravsky Krumlov to Prague for an exhibition at the Trade Fair Palace and then on to Tokyo in 2017 fueled further legal battles. While John Mucha withdrew his lawsuit in 2023 after reaching an agreement with the city, another heiress, Jarmila Mucha Plockova, filed her own lawsuit, arguing that the agreement did not definitively resolve the ownership issue. Despite the legal complexities and the confusion they create, the current agreement solidifies Prague’s ownership of the paintings and sets the stage for their eventual return, with the final goal of a new, purpose-built exhibition hall.
As commented above, Alphonse Mucha, celebrated for his Art Nouveau posters, considered his masterpiece to be the Slav Epic, a series of 20 monumental canvases. This cycle, a testament to his ambition to strengthen Czech national identity, has been the subject of a decades-long odyssey. While a new museum has opened in Prague, the originals of the Slav Epic are still in the small Moravian town of Moravsky Krumlov, awaiting their promised home in the capital. We at artnouveau.club have been covering this story since 2018, and this latest development is one we’ve been eagerly following. Earlier this year we already commented that, but every time that we have additional infomation we will comment to you. In fact, in 2017 we already reported on the popular Tokyo trip of the 20 artworks, that may have managed them and was the moment that the family of the painter decided to stop travels of the works following the artist will.
The paintings are currently on display at the Renaissance manor house in Moravsky Krumlov, about 200 kilometers from Prague. This arrangement, which began in 1963, came about after the cycle spent years without a permanent home. Mucha’s 1928 donation was conditional on the city building a proper, custom-built space, a promise that was never fulfilled. The cycle has been so popular in the town that Prague has extended its loan agreement until at least 2031, but we at artnouveau.com expect they will go to Prague before. For more details on this ongoing saga and the decision to keep the paintings in Moravia for now, you can read our exclusive article “Prague Extends Loan of Slav Epic to Moravsky Krumlov Until 2031” on our website.
While Prague has finally approved a plan to house the Slav Epic, it will be some time before the canvases make the journey. A new Mucha Museum has opened in the city’s Savarin Palace, a stylish Baroque building, and the current plan is to temporarily display the paintings there once the palace is fully restored. For now, visitors to Prague can only see high-quality photographic replicas of some of the canvases at the new museum, a fact that has left some people disappointed. This mirrors the frustration we discussed in our 2022 piece, “A New Mucha Museum in Prague, but Where’s the Epic?”, highlighting the public’s desire to see the original, truly magnificent works. You can also explore our deep dive into the legal battles surrounding the Epic’s ownership in our article from 2023, “The Slav Epic’s Legal Battle: A Family and a City at Odds”. We expects big crowds when the 20 artworks reach Prague’s final destination.
