by Tom Gurney
Tom Gurney BSc (Hons) is an art history expert with over 20 years experience
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Email: tomgurney1@gmail.com / Phone: +44 7429 011000
The Age of Reason by Alphonse Mucha
Crowds press between buildings and machinery in this dark study. A pale light near the right edge draws the eye through the dense scene. The Mucha Foundation identifies The Age of Reason as the planned left-hand wing of Mucha’s unfinished Three Ages triptych and dates its individual study to 1936–38.[1][2] This image belongs to that late project, not to the separate 12 × 42 centimetre sketch that plans all three panels together.[2]
At a Glance
- Date1936–1938
- ProjectThe Three Ages, unfinished triptych
- Roleleft-hand wing in the planned triptych[1]
- Documented studypencil and watercolour on paper[1][3]
- Local imageindividual study; exact held impression unverified
The Age of Reason in Mucha’s career
Gismonda
1894 designThe Age of Reason
1936–1938JOB
1896 designMédée
1898Le Pater
1899Contents
A crowded world of reason
The scene is unusually compressed. Groups of people seem to push across the foreground while architecture and dark mechanical forms rise behind them. The Foundation describes the study as a nightmarish vision of a world governed by cold, ruthless reason, naming a church, giant wheels, machines, factory chimneys and angry crowds among its elements.[1] Those details help locate forms that can be hard to separate in the small local reproduction.
The picture does not celebrate thinking as an abstract virtue. The Foundation says Mucha's sketchbook associated reason, when isolated from other human qualities, with materialism, intolerance, competition and a desire to rule.[1] The crowded forms express that warning visually. This is a critique of reason acting alone in the triptych's moral scheme, rather than an assertion that Mucha rejected thought itself. The work is a proposed allegory, not a depiction of a named city, factory or historical riot.
At the right, a warmer opening contrasts with the heavy brown field. The eye can move from the indistinct mass of people toward that light, but the composition resists a simple escape. Machinery, architecture and the crowd overlap. This unsettled organisation distinguishes the study from Mucha's more open decorative panels made for the Paris print market.
A wing of an unfinished triptych
Mucha planned Reason opposite Love, with Wisdom between them. The Foundation says he regarded reason and love as extremes that could be reconciled through wisdom; failing health prevented him from completing the triptych.[2] Art Gallery of New South Wales exhibition labels describe the project as a planned monumental work begun as the threat of another war grew.[3] These are accounts of intention and surviving preparatory works, not evidence that a finished three-panel painting once existed.
The Foundation records a pencil-and-watercolour Reason study, and the AGNSW loan list separately names a 1936–38 study in the same materials.[1][3] Their measurements describe particular held sheets. The local digital crop is not securely traced to either physical impression, so no size is assigned to it. Nor should the combined three-panel sketch's dimensions be transferred to this individual image.[2]
The records are materially specific: the Foundation measures its Reason study at 30.5 × 35.5 cm, whereas the AGNSW loan register lists a Reason study at 52 × 57 cm. The latter register says the Mucha Trust acquired the loaned work from the artist's son after his death in 1991. Without further collection documentation, the two sizes should not be averaged or used to assert a single physical sheet. Their shared title and date establish subject, not object identity.[1][3]
The 12 × 42 cm Foundation sketch presents Reason, Wisdom and Love together in one planning sheet. AGNSW's exhibition labels list that kind of triptych study separately from individual panel studies, and even give a different medium description for the exhibited combined study. These stages show Mucha testing the sequence at more than one scale and level of finish. They do not document that the full-sized monument was ever painted.[2][3]
The difference between study and finished work matters. Mucha could test the crowd, symbolism and tonal balance on paper without committing to the intended monumental scale. The surviving image shows an idea under development, while the unrealised final triptych remains a project rather than a missing completed artwork.
The Musée du Luxembourg's French exhibition account describes the project, begun in 1936, as a monument addressed to all humanity amid the approach of war. It says the three qualities needed to act in harmony for human progress. That broader aim explains why the oppressive Reason wing was not intended to stand by itself: its argument depended on the counterweight of Love and the central mediation of Wisdom. The account also confirms that only studies survived the uncompleted project.[4]
In a 2022 Czech interview, Mucha Foundation curator Tomoko Sato said the surviving plans include substantial written documentation, with lists of positive and negative qualities for each of the three ages. She also said the dimensions of the intended final panels and the exact finished form are unknown.[5] This is a curator's account of the archive, not a transcription of Mucha's notes. It reinforces why the surviving Reason studies can explain the project's argument without supplying measurements for a completed monument.
The Foundation's Czech timeline calls the 1936 proposal a triptych of a scale comparable to the Slav Epic canvases.[6] That describes a monumental ambition, not a surviving construction plan. Read beside Sato's explicit uncertainty about panel dimensions, it gives a sense of intended scale without turning any small preparatory sheet into a specification for a finished painting.
A 2018 publication from the Regional Museum in Most makes the unfinished status concrete by contrasting the proposed Three Ages with a large allegory of wealth Mucha did complete for a local savings bank.[7] Its author calls that painting his last realised monumental work and says the triptych remained at the stage of small colour compositions. This is a museum scholar's retrospective comparison, not an inventory of every surviving Reason sketch. It supports the distinction between an ambitious plan and a constructed final panel without resolving the sizes of the Foundation and Australian studies.
The Australian exhibition labels supply a precise end point for this late work: after the German invasion of Czechoslovakia in March 1939, Mucha was arrested and questioned by the Gestapo; he was released, his health declined, and he died on 14 July that year.[3] Those events belong to the artist's final months, after the studies dated 1936–38. They give historical weight to the triptych's unfulfilled ambition, but they do not prove that a particular Reason sheet was altered during 1939 or establish a single cause for the project's incompletion. The Foundation explicitly attributes the unfinished state to failing health.[2]
Looking again
Start with the people below, follow the machine and building shapes upward, then find the patch of light. The image asks what happens when one human faculty claims authority over the others. Its place at the triptych's left gives that question a larger structure within Mucha's final project.[1][2]
Watch: Alphonse Mucha
Follow Mucha’s work from Art Nouveau Paris to his later Czech projects.
Alphonse Mucha: Plongez dans l’Art nouveau !
A French museum introduction to Mucha’s Art Nouveau years, poster work and decorative language.
Watch on YouTubeArtworks directory
| Name | Date | Medium |
|---|---|---|
| 'Accept Love and Enthusiasm from Your Son, Mother of the Holy Nation': study for the mural 'By Own Strength III' at the Lord Mayor's Hall, Obecní Dům, Prague | 1910-1911 | Pencil and charcoal on canvas |
| 'By force towards freedom, with love towards unity!': study for the mural 'By Own Strength II' at the Lord Mayor's Hall, Obecní Dům, Prague | 1910-1911 | Pencil and charcoal on canvas |
| 'The Passing Wind Takes Youth Away': design for a fan and the façade of the 'Pavilion of Man' (unrealised) | 1899 | Colour lithograph |
| 'Through humiliated and tortured, you will live again, my country!': study for the mural 'By Own Strength II' at the Lord Mayor's Hall, Obecní Dům, Prague | 1910-1911 | Pencil and charcoal on canvas |
| 1918-1928: Poster for the 10th Anniversary of the Independence of the Republic of Czechoslovakia | 1928 | Colour lithograph |
| 6th Sokol Festival | 1912 | Colour lithograph |
| 8th Sokol Festival | 1925 | Colour lithograph |
| After the Battle of Grunwald | 1924 | egg tempera on canvas |
| After the Battle of Vitkov Hill | 1923 | egg tempera on canvas |
| Age of Love | 1936–1938 | |
| Age of Reason | 1936–1938 | |
| Age of Wisdom | 1936–1938 | |
| Amants | 1895 | Colour lithograph |
| Apotheosis of the Slavs | 1926 | Egg tempera on canvas |
| As Hamlet | 1899 | colour lithograph |
| Au Quartier Latin | 1898 | Magazine cover |
| Banknotes of Czechoslovakia, designed by Mucha: 500 crown; 50 Crown; 10 Crown | 1929 | Banknotes |
| Bieres de la Meuse | 1897 | Colour lithograph |
| Biscuits Champagne Lefevre Utile | 1896 | Colour lithograph |
| Biscuits Lefevre Utile | 1896 design for 1897 calendar; Foundation object/Carnavalet 1897 | Colour lithograph |
| Blessed are the Pure in Heart | 1906 | Printed magazine illustration |
| Bleu Deschamps | 1903 (deposit) | Colour lithograph |
| Bosnia & Herzegovina Pavilion - illustration featured in 'Le Figaro Illustré' (1 March 1900) | 1900 | Reproduction from Le Figaro Illustré after watercolour original |
| Bosnia-Herzegovina Pavilion: cartoon for the mural 'The Roman Period and the Arrival of the Slavs' | 1899-1900 | ink and crayon on paper |
| Bosnia-Herzegovina Pavilion: fragment of the upper frieze featuring Ivo and Anica, characters from Bosnian legends | 1899-1900 | tempera and watercolour on canvas |
| Bosnian Legends: Death of Hasanaga's Bride | 1899 | Charcoal on paper |
| Bosnian Legends: Murcia - The Plague Lady | 1899 | Charcoal on paper |
| Bosnian Pavilion Restaurant at the Paris Exhibition 1900: design for the menu | 1900 | Pencil and watercolour on paper |
| Boutique Fouquet (interior design) | 1901 | Shop interior design |
| Boutique Fouquet: sketches of the shop's signboard and decorative details | c.1900 | Pencil, ink and watercolour on paper |
| Box for Lefèvre-Utile biscuits: Gaufrettes Vanille | c.1900 | Tin box covered with lithographed label |
| Box for Lefèvre-Utile biscuits: Madère | c.1900 | Tin box covered with lithographed label |
| Brightness of the Day | 1899 | Colour lithograph |
| Broach with Pendant | 1900 | Gold, ivory, mother-of-pearl and semi-precious stones |
| Byzantine Head - The Blonde | 1897 | Colour lithograph |
| Byzantine Heads (pair) | 1897 | Colour lithograph |
| Byzantine Heads: Brunette | 1897 | Colour lithograph |
| Bénédictine | 1898 (BnF deposit); Hamburg 1899; MNAC 1896 or 1898 | Colour lithograph |
| Champagne Ruinart | 1896 | Colour lithograph |
| Chocolat Ideal | before or in 1897 (catalogue conflict) | Colour lithograph |
| Chocolat Masson (1897 calendar) | 1896–1897 | Colour lithograph |
| Choirboys at Petrov Church, Brno | 1905 | Watercolour on cardboard |
| Cloches de Noel | 1900 | Illustrated book |
| Comedy: study for a mural for the German Theatre, New York | 1908 | Oil on canvas |
| Cours Mucha: poster advertising Mucha's art classes held at the Académie Colarossi, Paris | 1900 | colour lithograph |
| Creative Force - Jan z Pernštýna: study for a pendentive of the Lord Mayor’s Hall, Obecní Dům, Prague | 1910-1911 | Oil on canvas |
| Crucifixion | c.1868 | Pencil, crayon and watercolour on paper |
| Cycles Perfecta | 1897 or 1902 (catalogue conflict) | Colour lithograph |
| Dance | 1898 | Colour lithograph |
| Dead Couple - Abandoned | c.1899-1900 | Charcoal and pastel on blue paper |
| Defense of Sziget against the Turks by Nicholas Zrinsky | 1914 | egg tempera on canvas |
| Design for a champagne poster | c. 1896 | Charcoal and pastel on paper |
| Design for a display stand at the Paris Exhibition 1900 | c.1899-1900 | Pencil and wash on paper |
| Design for Champagne Ruinart | c. 1896 | Pencil, watercolour and gold leaf on paper |
| Design for the cover of the magazine 'Fantaz' | 1882 | Ink and watercolour on paper |
| Design for the heading of the cover of the magazine 'Krokodil' | 1885 | Pen and ink on cardboard |
| Design for the poster for the Mucha Exhibition at the Brooklyn Museum, New York, January-February 1921 | 1920 | Pen and ink and watercolour on paper |
| Designs for cutlery | c.1900 | Charcoal and white on card |
| Designs for tableware | c.1900 | Charcoal, coloured pencil and white on card |
| Diadem for 'La princesse lointaine' | 1895 | metal and pearls |
| Diploma of Ivančice: Mock diploma honouring a local celebrity, with illustration of the first line of 'May', a poem by Karel Hynek Mácha | 1882 | Pen and ink and watercolour on paper |
| Documents décoratifs: designs for a watch and accessories (unused) | 1901-1902 | Pencil, ink and white on paper |
| Documents décoratifs: final study for Plate 25, featuring studies of lily | 1901-1902 | Pencil on paper |
| Documents décoratifs: final study for Plate 43 | 1901-1902 | Pencil, ink and wash, heightened with white on paper |
| Documents décoratifs: final study for Plate 49 | 1901-1902 | Pencil and white on paper |
| Documents décoratifs: final study for Plate 50 | 1901-1902 | Pencil and white on paper |
| Documents décoratifs: final study for Plate 60 | 1901-1902 | Pencil, ink and wash, heightened with white on paper |
| Documents décoratifs: final study for Plate 63 | 1901-1902 | Pencil and white on paper |
| Documents décoratifs: final study for Plate 67 | 1901-1902 | Pencil and white on paper |
| Documents décoratifs: final study for Plate 71 | 1901-1902 | Pencil and white on paper |
| Documents décoratifs: final study for Plate 72 | 1901-1902 | Pencil and wash, heightened with white on paper |
| Documents décoratifs: line drawing for Plate 33, featuring lily motifs | 1901-1902 | Pencil, pen and ink on paper |
| Documents décoratifs: Plate 54 | 1902 | Lithograph |
| Dreaming of Freedom: study for a Panel of the Small Reception Room at the Lord Mayor’s Hall, Obecní Dům, Prague | 1910-1911 | Pen and ink and watercolour on paper |
| Dusk | 1899 | Colour lithograph |
| Evening | 1899 | Colour lithograph |
| F. Champenois (Rêverie imprint) | 1898 | Colour lithograph |
| F. Guillot-Pelletier calendar (1898) | 1897–1898 | Colour lithograph |
| Feather | 1899 | Colour lithograph |
| Figures décoratives: final study for Plate 2 | 1904-1905 | Pencil and white on paper |
| Figures décoratives: final study for Plate 3 | 1904-1905 | Pencil and white on paper |
| Figures décoratives: final study for Plate14 | 1904-1905 | Pencil with white on paper |
| Figures décoratives: sketch study for Plate14 | 1904-1905 | Blue pencil on paper |
| Flirt Lefevre Utile | 1899 (Foundation design); BnF legal deposit 1900 | Colour lithograph |
| Flower | 1897 | Colour lithograph |
| Flower: final study for decorative panel | 1897 | Pencil, ink and watercolour on paper |
| France Embraces Bohemia | 1918 | oil on canvas |
| Fruit | 1897 | Colour lithograph |
| Georges Fouquet (1858-1929), Paris, after design by Mucha: Ornamental Chain with pendants | 1900 | Gold, enamel, fresh-water pearls, mother of pearl and semi-precious stones |
| Georges Fouquet (1858-1929), Paris, after Mucha design: 'Peacock' Ring (Exhibited at the Paris Exhibition 1900) | 1900 | Opal and gold |
| Girl Weeping | c.1899-1900 | Black chalk and pastel on paper |
| Girl with Loose Hair and Tulips | 1920 | Oil on canvas |
| Gismonda | 1894 | Colour lithograph |
| Head of a Girl, statue for the stand of the Houbigant Perfumery at the Paris Exhibition 1900 | 1900 | Bronze, silver and parcel gilt |
| Head of Sarah Bernhardt: Study for 'Lorenzaccio' | 1896 | Pencil on paper |
| Heather from Coastal Cliffs | 1902 | Colour lithograph |
| Heidsieck & Co | 1901 | Colour lithograph |
| Holy Mount Athos | 1926 | Egg tempera on canvas |
| Ilsée, Princesse de Tripoli | 1897 | Illustrated book |
| In the Desert: Study for an illustration for the Světozor magazine | 1889 | Pencil, watercolour and gouache on paper |
| Incantation (Salammbô) | 1897 | Lithograph |
| Independence - Jiří z Poděbrad: study for a pendentive of the Lord Mayor’s Hall, Obecní Dům, Prague | 1910-1911 | Oil on canvas |
| Interior and furniture designs | c.1900 | Pencil on paper |
| Interior of Boutique Fouquet: design for a wall-mounted display cabinet with statuette and mirror | c.1900 | Pencil on paper |
| Interior of Boutique Fouquet: design for the fireplace with statuettes, mirror, and the ornamental details of the wall | c.1900 | Pencil and watercolour on cardboard |
| Interior of Boutique Fouquet: sketches of the fireplace with statue, mirror, display cabinet, and the ornamental details of the wall | c.1900 | Pencil, pen and ink on paper |
| Ivy | 1901 | Colour lithograph |
| Jan Milic of Kromeriz | 1916 | egg tempera on canvas |
| Jaroslava and Jiří, the Artist’s Children | 1918 | Oil on canvas |
| JOB poster | 1896 | Colour lithograph |
| Judgement of Paris (calendar for Vieillemard printing company) | 1895 | Colour lithograph |
| Justice - Master Jan Hus: study for a pendentive of the Lord Mayor's Hall, Obecní dům, Prague | 1910-1911 | Oil on canvas |
| L'Annee Qui Vient | 1897 | red chalk on paper |
| L'Illustration magazine - cover for Christmas 1896/1897 | 1896 | Magazine cover |
| L'Illustré Soleil du Dimanche | 1897 | Magazine cover |
| La Dame aux Camélias: designs for cover and interior of special programme | 1896 | Pencil and watercolour on paper |
| La Nature | 1899-1900 | Bronze and amethyst |
| La Plume | 1897 | Magazine cover |
| La Samaritaine | 1897 | colour lithograph |
| Lance Parfum Rodo | 1896; Albertina print c. 1900 | Colour lithograph |
| Laurel | 1901 | Colour lithograph |
| Le Monde Illustré | 1900 | Magazine cover |
| Le Pater | 1899 | Illustrated book |
| Le Pater: early study for the 1st allegorical scene 'Our Father who art in Heaven' (1899) (Mucha Foundation object 300) | 1899 | Pencil on paper |
| Le Pater: early study for the 1st allegorical scene 'Our Father who art in Heaven' (1899) (Mucha Foundation object 302) | 1899 | Pastel on paper |
| Le Pater: study for the 6th allegorical scene 'Forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors' | 1899 | Charcoal and ink wash on paper |
| Lefevre Utile | 1904 | Advertisement |
| Leslie Carter | 1908 | Colour lithograph |
| Letem Českým Světem | 1898 | Printed book |
| Lorenzaccio | 1896 | Colour lithograph |
| Luchon poster (attributed to Mucha) | 1895 | Colour lithograph |
| Madonna of the Lilies | 1905 | Tempera on canvas |
| Master Jan Hus Preaching at the Bethlehem Chapel | 1916 | egg tempera on canvas |
| Maude Adams | 1908 | Lithograph, hand-coloured in watercolour and gouache |
| Maude Adams as Joan of Arc | 1909 | Oil on canvas |
| Medea | 1898 | Colour lithograph |
| Menu for the Bosnian Pavilion Restaurant at the Paris Exhibition 1900 | 1900 | Colour lithograph |
| Militancy - Jan Žižka: study for a pendentive of the Lord Mayor's Hall, Obecní dům, Prague | 1910-1911 | Oil on canvas |
| Military Camp in Winter, near a City on Fire | c.1899-1900 | Pastel on paper |
| Moet et Chandon | 1899 | Colour lithograph |
| Monaco Monte Carlo | 1897 | Colour lithograph |
| Moon | 1902 | |
| Moravian Teachers' Choir | 1911 | Colour lithograph |
| Morning Alphonse Mucha Painting / AlphonseMucha.org | 1899 | Colour lithograph |
| Morning Star | 1902 | Colour lithograph |
| Moët & Chandon White Star | 1899 | Colour lithograph |
| Mrs Mucha’s Necklace | 1906 | gold, enamel and semi-precious stones |
| Mural for the Bosnia-Herzegovina Pavilion: The Roman Period and the Arrival of the Slavs | 1900 | tempera and watercolour on canvas |
| Murals by Mucha in the Lord Mayor's Hall, Obecní Dům (Municipal House), Prague (1910-1911) | ||
| Music | 1898 | Colour lithograph |
| Nativity | c. 1934 | oil on canvas |
| Nestle's Food for Infants | 1897 | Colour lithograph |
| Night | 1899 | Colour lithograph |
| Nude on a Rock | 1898-1899 | Bronze |
| Official Banquet of the Paris Exhibition 1900: design for the menu featuring a fashionable woman wearing a Mucha-style jewellery | 1900 | Pencil, gouache and wash on grey paper |
| Ornamental motifs designed for 'Combinaisons Ornementales se Multipliant à l'Infini à l'Aide du Miroir' (1901) | c.1900-1901 | Blue and red pencil on paper |
| Packaging for 'Savon Mucha Violette' | 1906 | Colour lithograph |
| Packaging for Lefèvre-Utile biscuits: Boudoir | 1901 | Colour lithograph |
| Page's Costume: study for an illustration for 'Le Costume au Théâtre' | 1890 | Pencil and watercolour on cardboard |
| Painting | 1898 | Colour lithograph |
| Peonies | 1897–1898 | Ink and watercolour |
| Petr Chelcicky at Vodnany | 1918 | egg tempera on canvas |
| Poetry | 1898 | Colour lithograph |
| Portrait of Jaroslava | c.1927-1935 | Oil on canvas |
| Portrait of Josephine Crane Bradley as Slavia | 1908 | Oil and tempera on canvas |
| Portrait of Marie Chytilová (Maruška), Mucha's Future Wife | 1903 | pastel on paper |
| Portrait of Mucha's Sister, Angela | c.1880 | Oil on canvas |
| Portrait of Mucha's Sister, Anna | c.1885 | Oil on canvas |
| Portrait of Mucha's Son, Jiří | 1925 | Oil on canvas |
| Portrait of Mucha's Wife, Maruška | 1908/17 | Oil on canvas |
| Portrait of Woman | c. mid 1910s - 1925 | Blue pastel on grey paper |
| Poster for 'Hommage Respectueux de Nestlé' (the Nestlé Company's tribute to Queen Victoria's 60th Jubilee) | 1897 | Colour lithograph |
| Poster for 'Imprimerie Cassan Fils' | 1896 | Colour lithograph |
| JOB poster (1898) | 1898 | Colour lithograph |
| Poster for 'La Dame aux Camélias' | 1896 | Colour lithograph |
| Poster for 'La Tosca' | 1899 | Colour lithograph |
| Poster for 'Regional Exhibition at Ivančice 1913' | 1912 | Colour lithograph |
| Poster for 'The Slav Epic Exhibition, Brno, 1930' | 1928-1930 | Colour lithograph |
| Poster for 'Waverley Cycles' | 1898 | Colour lithograph |
| Poster for the 'Lottery of the Union of Southwestern Moravia' | 1912 | Colour lithograph |
| Poster for the Austrian Pavilion at the Paris Exhibition 1900 | 1900 | Colour lithograph |
| Prague Subjugated: study for a Panel of the Small Reception Room at the Lord Mayor’s Hall, Obecní Dům, Prague | 1910-1911 | Pen and ink and watercolour on paper |
| Primrose | 1899 | Colour lithograph |
| Primrose and Feather (paired image) | 1899 | Colour lithographs (paired image) |
| Princess Hyacinth (Princezna Hyacinta) | 1911 | Colour lithograph |
| Print proof for the Biscuits Lefèvre-Utile tin | 1899 | Lithograph |
| Reverie | 1898 | Colour lithograph |
| Russia Restituenda [Russia Must Recover] | 1922 | Colour lithograph |
| Salome | 1897 | Colour lithograph |
| Salon des Cent | 1896 | Colour lithograph |
| Salon of the Hundred | 1897 | Colour lithograph |
| Sarah Bernhardt - La Princesse Lointaine - Lefevre Utile | 1903 | Colour lithograph |
| Sarah Bernhardt as La Princesse Lointaine: poster for 'La Plume' magazine | 1897 | Colour lithograph |
| Sarah Bernhardt in the role of the Duc de Reichstadt in L’Aiglon | 1900 | Pencil on paper |
| Sarah Bernhardt: study of her full-standing figure | c.1896 | Pen and ink on paper |
| Savonnerie de Bagnolet calendar | 1898 (calendar) | Printed advertising calendar |
| Self-portrait (1899) | 1899 | Oil on board |
| Self-portrait (1907) | 1907 | Blue and white crayon on blue Ingres paper |
| Self-portrait, sketching in his apartment, Paris | late 1880s | oil on canvas |
| Sketches of flowers for Documents décoratifs | c.1900-1901 | Pen and ink on paper |
| Slavia insurance poster | 1907 | Poster |
| Slavs in their Original Homeland | 1912 | Egg tempera on canvas |
| Snake Bracelet with a Ring | 1899 | Gold, enamel, opal, ruby and diamond |
| Société Populaire des Beaux Arts | 1897 | Colour lithograph |
| Song of Bohemia | 1918 | oil on canvas |
| St. Vitus Cathedral Stained-glass Window, Prague: final design for the central panels, featuring SS Cyril and Methodius | 1931 | Ink and watercolour on paper |
| St. Vitus Cathedral Stained-glass Window, Prague: final design for the central panels, featuring St. Ludmila | 1931 | Ink and watercolour on paper |
| St. Vitus Cathedral Stained-glass Window, Prague: final design for the central panels, featuring St. Wenceslas (Duke of Bohemia) kneeling next to his Grandmother, St. Ludmila | 1931 | Ink and watercolour on paper |
| St.Vitus Cathedral Stained-glass Window, Prague: final design for the bottom left panels | 1931 | Ink and watercolour on paper |
| St.Vitus Cathedral Stained-glass Window, Prague: final design for the bottom right panels | 1931 | Ink and watercolour on paper |
| Stained-glass Window designed by Mucha at St. Vitus Cathedral, Prague | Early 1930s | N/A |
| Study for 'The Age of Reason' | 1936-1938 | Pencil and watercolour on paper |
| Study for 'The Slav Epic cycle' No.19: The Abolition of Serfdom in Russia | 1913-1914 | Watercolour and gouache on paper |
| Study for 'The Slav Epic' cycle No.14: The Sacrifice at Szigetvár by Nikola Zrinski | c.1913-1914 | Photographed drawings stuck together, tinted with watercolour and gouache |
| Study for 'The Slav Epic' cycle No.17: The Holy Mount Athos (1926) | c.1925-26 | Charcoal heightened with white on cardboard |
| Study for 'The Slav Epic' cycle No.18: The Oath of Omladina under the Slavic Linden Tree | c.1925-1926 | Pencil and watercolour on paper |
| Study for 'The Slav Epic' cycle No.1: The Slavs in Their Original Homeland (1912) | c.1910-1912 | Oil on canvas |
| Study for 'The Slav Epic' cycle No.2: The Celebration of Svantovít | c.1910-1912 | Oil on canvas |
| Study for 'The Slav Epic' cycle No.7: Jan Milíč of Kroměříž | c.1915-1916 | Oil on canvas |
| Study for 'The Slav Epic' cycle No.9: Master Jan Hus Preaching at the Bethlehem Chapel. The Magic of the Word: Truth Prevails (1412). | c.1915-1916 | Oil on canvas |
| Study for 'The Three Ages' triptych: Reason, Wisdom and Love [unfinished project] | 1936-1938 | Pencil and watercolour on paper |
| Study for 'Woman in the Wilderness' (c. 1922-1923) (Mucha Foundation object 315) | c. 1922-1923 | oil on canvas |
| Study for 'Woman in the Wilderness' (c. 1922-1923) (Mucha Foundation object 316) | c. 1922-1923 | oil on canvas |
| Study for Savon Notre Dame | c. 1896 | pencil and watercolour on paper |
| Study for the poster 'Russia Restituenda [Russia Must Recover]' | 1922 | Pen and ink and watercolour on paper |
| Study of a Male Nude | 1885-1887 | Oil on canvas |
| The Abolition of Serfdom in Russia | 1914 | Egg tempera on canvas |
| The Arts (series) | 1898 | Colour lithograph |
| The Arts: study for 'Dance' | 1898 | Pencil and watercolour on paper |
| The Arts: study for 'Music' | 1898 | Pencil and watercolour on paper |
| The Arts: study for 'Painting' | 1898 | Pencil and watercolour on paper |
| The Arts: study for 'Poetry' | 1898 | Pencil and watercolour on paper |
| The Bohemian King Premysl Otakar II | 1924 | egg tempera on canvas |
| The Bulgarian Tsar Simeon | 1923 | egg tempera on canvas |
| The Burr McIntosh Monthly, 1907 | 1907 | Magazine cover |
| The Celebration of Svantovit | 1912 | egg tempera on canvas |
| The Coronation of the Serbian Tsar Stefan Dusan as East Roman Emperor | 1923 | egg tempera on canvas |
| The Devil and Mr Twardowsky: study for an illustration for 'The Tale of Pan Twardowsky' (a variation of 'Faust') | c.1887-1888 | Charcoal on paper |
| The Flowers (series) | 1898 | Colour lithographs |
| The Flowers: Carnation | 1898 | Colour lithograph |
| The Flowers: Iris | 1898 | Colour lithograph |
| The Flowers: Lily | 1898 | Colour lithograph |
| The Flowers: Rose | 1898 | Colour lithograph |
| The Hussite King Jiri of Podebrady | 1923 | Egg tempera on canvas |
| The Introduction of the Slavonic Liturgy | 1912 | egg tempera on canvas |
| The Last Days of Jan Amos Komensky (Comenius) in Naarden | 1918 | Egg tempera on canvas |
| The Light of Hope | 1933 | Oil on canvas |
| The Meeting at Krizky | 1916 | egg tempera on canvas |
| The Months (January-June) | 1899 | Colour lithograph |
| The Months (July-December) | 1899 | Colour lithograph |
| The Moon and the Stars (four-panel montage) | 1902 | Colour lithographs (four-panel montage) |
| The Moon and the Stars (series) | 1902 | Colour lithograph |
| The Moon and the Stars: study for 'The Evening Star' | 1902 | Ink and watercolour on paper |
| The Moon and the Stars: study for 'The Pole Star' | 1902 | Ink and watercolour on paper |
| The New York Daily News art supplement | 1904 | Printed art supplement |
| The Oath of Concord of the Slavs (unfinished) | 1939 | oil on canvas |
| The Oath of Omladina under the Slavic Linden Tree | 1926, unfinished | Egg tempera on canvas |
| The Precious Stones (four-panel montage) | 1900 | Colour lithographs (four-panel montage) |
| The Precious Stones (series) | 1900 | Colour lithograph |
| The Precious Stones: Amethyst | 1900 | Colour lithograph |
| The Precious Stones: Emerald | 1900 | Colour lithograph |
| The Precious Stones: Ruby | 1900 | Colour lithograph |
| The Printing of the Bible of Kralice in Ivancice | 1914 | egg tempera on canvas |
| The Seasons (series) | 1896 | Colour lithograph |
| The Seasons (series) (1900) | 1900 | Colour lithograph |
| The Seasons (variation in screen format) | 1896 | Colour lithograph |
| The Seasons: Autumn (1896) | 1896 | Colour lithograph |
| The Seasons: Autumn (1900) | 1900 | Colour lithograph |
| The Seasons: Spring | 1900 | Colour lithograph |
| The Seasons: Spring (1896) | 1896 | Colour lithograph |
| The Seasons: Summer | 1900 | Colour lithograph |
| The Seasons: Summer (1896) | 1896 | Colour lithograph |
| The Seasons: Winter | 1900 | Colour lithograph |
| The Seasons: Winter (1896) | 1896 | Colour lithograph |
| The Slavonic Concord: study for the ceiling painting for the Lord Mayor's Hall, Obecní Dům, Prague | 1910-1911 | Oil on canvas |
| The Threat | 1912 | Colour lithograph |
| The Times of the Day (series) | 1899 | Colour lithograph |
| The West End Review | 1897 (Foundation); 1898 promotional cover | Colour lithograph |
| Thistle from the Sands | 1902 | Colour lithograph |
| Théâtre de la Renaissance: design for poster advertising Sarah Bernhardt's theatre | c.1895 | Pen and ink on paper |
| Tin for Lefèvre-Utile biscuits | 1899 | Circular tin with lid and handle; colour print on metal |
| Topaz | 1900 | Colour lithograph |
| Tragedy - study for a mural for the German theatre New York | 1908 | Oil and tempera on canvas |
| Trappistine Liquors | 1897 | colour lithograph |
| Wiener Chic | 1905 | Magazine cover |
| Woman in the Wilderness | 1923 | Oil on canvas |
| Woman masked in white head-scarf - study for the illustration of the Bosnia & Herzegovina Pavilion featured in 'Le Figaro Illustré' (1 March 1900) | 1899 | Pencil and wash heightened with white on paper |
| Woman with a Daisy - textile designed by Mucha | 1900 | Printed upholstery fabric |
| Zdenka Cerny | 1913 | Colour lithograph |
| Zodiac (La Plume calendar) | 1896–97 | Colour lithograph |
| Zodiac (textless decorative panel) | 1896 | Colour lithograph |
| ‘At the sight of the two storks the owl rose.’ Study for an illustration for Contes de Grand-mères | 1891 | Watercolour and gouache on paper |
Frequently Asked Questions
When was the Age of Reason study made?
Where did it belong?
Was the full triptych completed?
Discussion
The Age of Reason crowds people, machines and architecture together.
Mucha planned it as one wing of an unfinished triptych.
Reader Insights
Where do you find the greatest visual pressure?
What does the light at the edge change?
How would a central Wisdom panel affect this image?
Join the Conversation
Share how you read the crowded scene.
References
- Mucha Foundation, “Study for ‘The Age of Reason’ (1936–1938),” object 326. View source.
- Mucha Foundation, “Study for ‘The Three Ages’ triptych,” object 258, combined planning sketch and project account. View source.
- Art Gallery of New South Wales, Alphonse Mucha: Spirit of Art Nouveau, large-print labels and loan list. Labels; loan list.
- Musée du Luxembourg, “Mucha, messager de la paix,” French exhibition interpretation of the unfinished triptych. View source.
- Tomoko Sato, Mucha Foundation curator, interviewed by Stanislav Šulc for Newstream, 2022 (Czech), on the surviving written plans and unknown final form. Interview.
- Mucha Foundation, Czech timeline, 1936 entry describing a projected triptych comparable in scale to The Slav Epic canvases. Timeline.
- Jitka Šrejberová, “Poslední monumentální dílo Alfonse Muchy,” Pod Hněvínem 2 (2018), p. 26, Regional Museum in Most, contrasting its completed savings-bank allegory with the unfinished Three Ages. Museum publication.
