The Seasons

The Seasons by Alphonse Mucha: Four Panels from 1896

Four women occupy four narrow pictures. Blossom surrounds the first; the second rests by water; the third gathers grapes; the last draws a pale cloak around herself in the snow. Together they make Alphonse Mucha’s The Seasons of 1896, a cycle in which changes in the natural world become changes of mood. Each panel can be enjoyed alone, but the move from spring’s opening to winter’s stillness gives the set its shape.^[1]

These were decorative panels: colour lithographs printed by F. Champenois in Paris for display. The Mucha Foundation identifies The Seasons as Mucha’s first such set. Its success led to further treatments of the subject, including another four-panel series in 1900. The four pictures discussed here belong to 1896. Their figures, settings and even their proportions should not be silently exchanged with those of the later set.^[1][7]

At a Glance

• ArtistAlphonse Mucha
• TitleThe Seasons (original four-panel series)
• Date1896
• Mediumcolour lithograph
• PrinterF. Champenois, Paris
• PanelsSpring, Summer, Autumn and Winter
• Catalogued dimensions103 × 54 centimetres for each of the four Foundation panel records^[2][3][4][5]

The tall format gives a figure room to stand or sit amid a recognisable setting. Flowers, vines, water and snow do more than label the months: they alter the colour and pace of each picture. Mucha keeps the human figure at the centre of every panel, so the eye can compare the seasons through four related presences rather than four separate landscapes.^[1]

The Seasons in Mucha’s career

Work dates

18901900191019201930

Gismonda

1894 design

JOB

1896 design

Zodiac

1896 design

The Seasons

1896 series

Médée

1898

Le Pater

1899

Apotheosis of the Slavs

1926

Contents

1. Spring: a beginning in blossom
2. Summer: warmth and repose
3. Autumn: gathering and abundance
4. Winter: shelter and stillness
5. One cycle, four different pictures
6. Made for walls, and made again

Look closer: The Seasons: joined 1896 screen format

This owner-supplied reproduction joins four labelled panels in a screen-like format. Read them in the order printed here: Été, Printemps, Automne, Hiver; this is not the usual chronological display order.

1234

Details from The Seasons: joined 1896 screen format

Select a detail image to open the full-size gallery, then use the arrows to compare views.

1

Été: heat and stillness

The leftmost panel shows Summer reclining over the water. The label Été appears in the decorated band below.

2

Printemps: bloom and lyre

Spring stands beneath blossoms with a branch-like lyre. The adjacent panel changes both the pose and the landscape.

3

Automne: the harvest

Autumn sits among vines and fruit, with warmer foliage and a more enclosed pose.

4

Hiver: shelter in the cold

The final figure gathers her robe around her as snow-covered branches fill the background.

Spring: a beginning in blossom

In Spring, a fair-haired woman stands beneath a flowering tree. White blossoms gather in her hair and repeat above her, joining figure and setting. Her light dress gives the panel an airy appearance; its long falling folds answer the vertical format. She holds a lyre made from a branch, with three small birds perched on it. Nature supplies both her setting and her instrument.^[2]

The figure is poised rather than hurried. The birds and the branch suggest music about to begin, but there is no need to invent a particular melody or story. What matters visually is the sense of readiness. Blossoms are open, yet the season still feels new. Mucha lets pale fabric, flowers and fine branches carry that freshness across the height of the sheet.

The personification can work without a written label. A viewer can recognise spring through the surrounding growth and through the woman’s relation to it, even in the untitled print state recorded by the BnF.^[10] The branch-lyre makes her part of a lively scene, while her calm stance keeps the panel decorative enough to reward a long look on a wall.

Summer: warmth and repose

Summer changes the tempo. The woman sits by shallow water, leaning against a vine. Red poppies brighten her hair; her feet reach the water below. Instead of standing among new blossoms, she settles into a landscape already full of growth. A blue sky opens behind her, giving the warmer, denser details space to breathe.^[3]

Her pose is relaxed. The curved line of her back, the fall of her clothing and the trailing vegetation draw the eye downward toward the water, then back up to the flowers near her face. The panel holds a quiet moment rather than an activity with a clear end. If Spring suggests the first stir of life, Summer offers the ease of remaining in it.

The poppies make an immediate colour note, but the panel’s heat is not expressed through red alone. Mucha balances the figure’s warm tones with pale sky and water. The season becomes a feeling of light and rest, carried by posture as much as by plants. That makes the four-panel sequence more varied than a set of botanical labels.

Autumn: gathering and abundance

In the 1896 Autumn, the figure sits among vines and other rich growth. Chrysanthemums crown her hair, and she reaches toward a cluster of grapes. A small bowl in her other hand strengthens the sense of gathering. The long hair and plant stems curl through the scene, giving the panel a more crowded, fruitful character than the open air around Summer.^[4]

Mucha’s woman is still graceful, but her gesture has a purpose. Fruit is ready to be taken. The eye moves between her hand, the vine and the bowl, then returns to the face framed by flowers. Autumn is therefore shown as a moment within the year’s cycle, when growth has become harvest. The panel turns that change into a visible action without abandoning the series’ decorative rhythm.

This image is sometimes easy to confuse with Mucha’s later treatment of the same season. The picture at Autumn (1900) is a different design: an upright woman in an ornate frame, holding a bowl of fruit. The seated grape-gatherer belongs to the 1896 quartet and appears on this site under Fall. The repeated subject does not make the two prints interchangeable.^[1][4][6]

Winter: shelter and stillness

Winter draws the cycle inward. The woman is covered from head to foot by a pale green cloak. Snow rests on the bare branches around her, while she shelters a small bird in her hands. Other birds wait nearby. The movement of flowering branches and hanging fruit has given way to a sparse network of cold twigs.^[5]

The covered figure changes our sense of the body. Spring’s light dress and Summer’s exposed arms made the air seem gentle; here the cape forms a protective outline. The bird supplies a small point of warmth and attention near the centre. Winter feels quiet, but not empty. There is still life within the snow-covered setting, and the woman’s gesture makes it visible.

The Foundation compares the composition’s simplicity and flatness to Japanese woodcuts. We can see why without treating the panel as a copy of any one print: broad pale areas and branching dark lines make a clear pattern from relatively few elements. Beside the busier Autumn, that restraint feels like a deliberate closing note.^[5]

One cycle, four different pictures

The set works through repetition and difference. Each tall panel centres a woman in a landscape, but the figures do not perform the same action. Spring holds a branch-lyre; Summer rests; Autumn gathers; Winter protects a bird. These gestures give the viewer a route through the year. They also let each sheet stand on its own, with a complete figure and a distinct arrangement of natural forms.^{[1][2][3][4][5]}

Colour helps create the sequence. Spring’s pale blossoms and dress lead into Summer’s poppies and blue distance. Autumn grows warmer and fuller around the grapes. Winter reduces the scene to a cool cloak, bare branches and snow. The change is gradual enough to make a set, yet strong enough to make the panels memorable individually. Mucha uses the decorative border of the body, clothing and plants to hold these shifts together.

The personifications are not portraits of four named women. Their settings and gestures tell us which season each inhabits. Mucha therefore gives an old artistic subject a form suited to printed display: familiar at a glance, richer when seen close up. The Mucha Foundation notes that personified seasons had a long history, while identifying these figures in their seasonal countryside as Mucha’s fresh treatment of that tradition.^[1]

Botanical detail sharpens the pattern. In a Spanish study of Mucha's decorative panels, Beatriz Teresa Álvarez Arias reads the flowering tree and birds of Spring, Summer's poppies, Autumn's chrysanthemums and grapes, and Winter's snow-covered bush and sheltered birds as a linked sequence of plant and animal signs.^[22] Her point is more specific than simply saying that each panel contains flowers. A poppy belongs to the summer setting, while grapes and a vine carry the work and ripeness of autumn. Winter keeps a living bird at its centre despite the bare branches. The women remain allegories, but the surrounding growth tells the viewer which part of the annual cycle each figure embodies.

Álvarez Arias also distinguishes the 1900 set by its more naturalistic treatment of plants, naming several flowers in its Spring and Summer panels.^[22] That is a scholar's comparison of two series, not a claim that every 1896 flower is botanically exact or that the later group reused the earlier plates. The comparison explains why matching the title alone can mislead: Mucha returned to the same subject but changed the vocabulary of vegetation, figures and setting.

Her wider argument is that leaves, branches and fruit in Mucha's panels may do symbolic work alongside flowers; they are not merely ornamental filler around a woman.^[22] The Seasons makes that distinction easy to test. Spring's flowering branch becomes a musical prop, Autumn's vine leads to the fruit she gathers, and Winter's bare bush shelters the birds near the cloaked figure. The objects help organise action and atmosphere within each scene. This is an interpretation of how the set works, not evidence that Mucha assigned a fixed, secret meaning to every species.

Made for walls, and made again

A 2021 French museum guide explains why these panels could circulate apart from advertisements: Champenois used sturdier paper for decorative sheets intended to brighten homes, while Mucha saw the format as a way to bring art to a wider public.^[20] A collector's account of an 1896 Champenois set reports that a contemporary catalogue offered all four panels for 40 francs and mentions a smaller combined sheet within a frame designed by Mucha.^[19] That is an attributed report of the price, not a direct reading of the original catalogue. The reported price is for the quartet, not one panel; the combined format is also distinct from this site's digital montage and the tall individual sheets.

The idea of domestic display was discussed at the time. Writing in a 1980 Lyon museum study, Dominique Recoules cites Charles Chincholle's article in L'Estampe of 10 February 1897, which described Mucha's decorative panels as suitable for rooms from salons to dining rooms and for folding screens.^[25] That is contemporary reception of Mucha's panel format, as relayed by a later scholar; it does not identify a particular Seasons impression or demonstrate that one of these four panels hung in a named home. It places the decorative purpose of the 1896 set within a documented Paris discussion soon after its issue.

The series reached exhibitions soon after publication. In a Spanish scholarly study, Beatriz Teresa Álvarez Arias places the 1896 panels at the Galerie de la Bodinière from 16 February to 10 March 1897 and later at the Salon des Cent.^[22] An Italian rare-book catalogue independently describes the Bodinière exhibition catalogue and its 107 listed works, but the complete original list has not been collated here.^[23] The panels' presence in that show therefore remains attributed to the scholar, rather than to a directly checked entry number.

American printers also reused the designs. Swann Galleries catalogued a four-sheet Ketterlinus calendar, printed in Philadelphia in 1897 for 1898, with each sheet about 41 × 21 cm.^[21] It is a later use of the 1896 compositions, not a date or size for the Champenois set. The Summer design travelled further: a Spanish study identifies its reuse for a 1902 Carriage Dealers lithograph, and the Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya catalogues a surviving 106 × 51 cm example.^[22][24] That publicity poster is another object, not an issue of the 1896 Summer panel. These examples show circulation across decorative and commercial formats without identifying the source impressions behind this site's images.

A later collector's “complete” Seasons group could bring together different issue dates and supports. Christie's catalogued one four-part group in which Spring, Autumn and Winter were described as original 1900 versions but Summer as a variant dated 1903. Another auctioned 1900 quartet was printed on silk and identified as Rennert and Weill variant 1. These are descriptions of particular groups, not evidence that this site's 1896 panels were printed on silk or issued in 1903. They show why the year attached to a design, the date of an individual impression and the date when four pieces were assembled need separate labels.^[15][16]

Champenois printed the 1896 series as colour lithographs. Decorative panels could offer an image without an advertising slogan or event announcement, intended for the pleasure of looking and for an interior wall; some impressions retained the season names.^[9][10] The Foundation places The Seasons at the start of Mucha’s work in this format, before later panel series devoted to flowers, the arts and the times of day. The printer’s ability to produce and circulate impressions mattered to how widely such pictures could be seen.^[7]

The Bibliothèque nationale de France (BnF) catalogues two states of the 1896 quartet: one with the French names Printemps, Été, Automne and Hiver, and another without those names.^[9][10] It identifies Champenois as publisher and printer of both colour-lithographic sets and measures its catalogued panels at 104 × 54 centimetres. The Foundation's individual records give 103 × 54 centimetres.^[2][3][4][5] Those figures should stay with the objects and records that supply them. The accessible catalogues do not establish whether the difference comes from sheet edges, measurement practice or other physical changes.

The titled and untitled forms are print states of the 1896 designs; they are not the later 1900 redesigns. A panel without a printed Automne remains the seated grape-gatherer of 1896 if its composition matches that set. Conversely, the standing fruit-bearer belongs to the 1900 group even though it also represents autumn.^{[4][6][9][10]} The BnF's 1900 record is more complex still: it cites six variants and inventories Spring and Autumn examples from its variant 1 beside Summer and Winter examples from variant 5 without text.^[11] That mixed holding is a reminder that a catalogued group need not consist of four impressions with identical lettering or publication histories.

The BnF separately records a three-season Spring–Summer–Winter group, dated about 1898 and printed by Champenois.^[12] Its three smaller lithographs are a distinct catalogue entry, not a missing Autumn from the four-part 1896 set. The Foundation's account of further Seasons work in 1897 and 1900 describes the broader success of the theme; it does not authorise applying the three-season object's dimensions or format to these four panels.^[1][12]

An American collection supplies firmer evidence for the intervening 1897 treatment. The Art Institute of Chicago catalogues The Seasons as a 1897 colour lithograph on paper, with 15 × 43 cm for each panel.^[27] This is much smaller than the Foundation's 103 × 54 cm records for the 1896 quartet. The Chicago record alone does not supply the printing history of every 1897 impression, but it identifies a dated, held object rather than a loose reference to “another Seasons.” A reader looking at a compact 1897 group should not assign it the title-state, size or imagery of the 1896 set merely because all four seasons appear again. The 1898 BnF three-season entry is yet another catalogued object, not necessarily a fragment of Chicago's four-part work.^[12][27]

A Hiroshima Prefectural Art Museum exhibition checklist lists all four 1896 lithographs separately, including 104.2 × 57.2 cm for Winter and 104.8 × 57.0 cm for Spring.^[13] Those Japanese entries independently confirm the four-subject grouping and demonstrate again why one institution's measurements should not be presented as universal. The same checklist also lists a separate 1900 quartet, including an Autumn at 71.7 × 32.0 cm.^[13] A Hokkaido exhibition report identifies a 1900 Seasons group as lithographs printed on satin, about 73 × 32 cm each.^[14] That material description belongs to the reported deluxe group, not automatically to the paper prints or to this site's 1896 images.

A 2023 Hachioji Yume Art Museum checklist lists all four 1896 Seasons panels from the Ozawa collection as printed on satin.^[17] This is a separate documented support for the earlier designs, alongside the paper examples listed at Hiroshima. The Hachioji checklist gives neither dimensions nor an impression history for its satin quartet, so it cannot establish whether those sheets share the BnF's named or unnamed state, or the source of this site's reproductions.

The Moravian Gallery in Brno provides a third collection-level comparison. Its Czech records catalogue Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter as 1896 lithographs on paper, each 97.5 × 50 cm, under consecutive inventory numbers GD 9382–9385; all four were acquired in 1956.^[18] The shared measurements and accession year document a group within that collection. They do not tell us whether the Brno prints have season names, why they measure less than the Foundation and BnF sheets, or whether all four were printed together. The paper support also cannot be generalized to the separately catalogued Hachioji satin set.^[17][18]

The Contemporary Art Museum, Kumamoto, lists yet another 1896 four-part Seasons group: lithographs on paper measured 45 × 15 cm each.^[26] This compact scale is unlike the larger individual sheets recorded in Paris, Brno and Hiroshima. The checklist gives no owner, lettering state or issue description, and cannot tell us whether its small panels were printed separately, cut from a joined sheet or reduced in a later publication. It does establish a further named exhibition witness for the whole quartet. These measurements belong to that list, not to the site's four digital panels or to the Ketterlinus calendar sheets.^{[13][18][21][26]}

The four Foundation records each give a sheet size of 103 × 54 centimetres. Those figures describe catalogued panel objects, not the dimensions of every impression or every online reproduction. A small picture showing all four panels together helps us see the sequence, but it should not be mistaken for a single joined original sheet. The Foundation also catalogues a separate 1896 variation in horizontal screen format; its 54 × 103 centimetre dimensions belong to that distinct object.^{[2][3][4][5][8]}

Success brought repetition of the theme. According to the Foundation, Champenois asked Mucha for further Seasons sets in 1897 and 1900, and designs for two more sets survive. The 1900 quartet remains a separate series even though it shares the title, medium and printer of the first. A date and a close look at the figure are therefore essential when identifying an individual Spring or Autumn.^[1][6]

That history adds to the interest of the 1896 panels. They established a way of making an annual cycle feel coherent without making its four scenes uniform. The result is a set of printed images that can be followed from first blossom to winter bird, then begun again. For related work, see Mucha’s posters, his Art Nouveau designs and the calendar image Zodiac, where another kind of yearly cycle is compressed into one sheet.^[7]

Watch: Alphonse Mucha

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Alphonse Mucha: Plongez dans l’Art nouveau !

Grand Palais

A French museum introduction to Mucha’s Art Nouveau years, poster work and decorative language.

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▶01 · Art Nouveau overviewAlphonse Mucha: Plongez dans l’Art nouveau !Grand Palais▶02 · Paris and designAlphonse Mucha: Art Nouveau in ParijsKunstmuseum Den Haag▶03 · Prague and the Slav EpicPrague’s Art Nouveau, Mucha, and the Slav EpicRick Steves Classroom Europe

Artworks directory

292 artworks

Search artworks Medium All media Drawing Painting Reset

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

References

1. Mucha Foundation, “The Seasons (series),” object record and series history, 1896. View source.
2. Mucha Foundation, “The Seasons: Spring,” object record, 1896. View source.
3. Mucha Foundation, “The Seasons: Summer,” object record, 1896. View source.
4. Mucha Foundation, “The Seasons: Autumn,” object record, 1896. View source.
5. Mucha Foundation, “The Seasons: Winter,” object record, 1896. View source.
6. Mucha Foundation, “The Seasons (series),” 1900, and “The Seasons: Autumn,” 1900. Series; Autumn.
7. Mucha Foundation, “Art Posters,” thematic collection and discussion of decorative panels. View source.
8. Mucha Foundation, “The Seasons (variation in screen format),” object record, 1896. View source.
9. Bibliothèque nationale de France, “Les Saisons (1896): variantes avec le nom des saisons,” Champenois set. View source.
10. Bibliothèque nationale de France, “Les Saisons (1896): variantes sans le nom des saisons,” companion catalogue state. View source.
11. Bibliothèque nationale de France, “Les Saisons (1900),” six-variant note and mixed held parts. View source.
12. Bibliothèque nationale de France, “Trois saisons: Printemps, Été, Hiver,” separate c.1898 record. View source.
13. Hiroshima Prefectural Art Museum, exhibition checklist, individual 1896 and 1900 Seasons sheets. View source.
14. Hokkaido Asahikawa Museum of Art, exhibition report listing a 1900 Seasons deluxe satin group. View source.
15. Christie's, The Seasons, 1900/1903, mixed-date four-part group. View source.
16. Christie's, Quatre Saisons, 1900, quartet printed on silk. View source.
17. Hachioji Yume Art Museum, 2023 Mucha exhibition checklist, entries 75–78, 1896 quartet printed on satin, Ozawa collection. Work list.
18. Moravian Gallery in Brno, Czech collection records for the 1896 Čtyři roční doby quartet, inventories GD 9382–9385. Spring; Summer; Autumn; Winter.
19. Art Nouveau Production, account of its 1896 Champenois Seasons set, citing a 40-franc quartet price and combined four-panel format. Collection text.
20. Musée départemental breton, Alphonse Mucha: La Beauté Art nouveau exhibition guide, French/English description of decorative-panel production and household use. Museum PDF.
21. Swann Galleries, lot 135, four Ketterlinus Seasons calendar sheets dated 1897 for a 1898 Philadelphia calendar. Sale catalogue.
22. Beatriz Teresa Álvarez Arias, “Sensualidad y naturaleza: Mujer y botánica en los paneles decorativos de Alfons Mucha,” Ars Longa 21 (2012), pp. 379–80 and notes 36, 42–43. Article.
23. Gonnelli auction catalogue, lot 187, description of the 16 February–10 March 1897 Galerie de la Bodinière catalogue and its 107 works. Catalogue PDF.
24. Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya, Carriage Dealers, inventory 000154-C, 1902 colour lithograph, 106 × 51 cm. Object record.
25. Dominique Recoules, “Panneaux décoratifs d'Alphonse Mucha,” Bulletin des musées et monuments lyonnais 6, no. 2 (1980), p. 30, citing Charles Chincholle's 10 February 1897 L'Estampe review of decorative panels. Journal article.
26. Contemporary Art Museum, Kumamoto, Japanese Mucha exhibition checklist, item 63, 1896 Seasons quartet, lithographs on paper at 45 × 15 cm each. Work list.
27. Art Institute of Chicago, The Seasons, 1897; colour lithograph on paper, each panel catalogued at 15 × 43 cm. The museum's text record was checked through its collection API; no image was inspected.

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