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ALPHONSE MUCHA (1860-1939)
108
●
MONACO • MONTE - CARLO. 1897.
42
5
/
8
x29
3
/
8
inches, 108
3
/
8
x74
5
/
8
cm. F. Champenois, Paris.
Condition A / A-: minor creases in margins and image. Framed. Unexamined out of frame.
By the late 1890s, Mucha’s fame was such that he was called upon to help advertise travel to one of the
Riviera’s most elegant locales. The resulting image represents the perfect advertising combination,
equating Mucha’s exquisite talent with the inherent luxury of the destination. The image also shows how
Mucha was allowed to interpret his commissions almost any way he chose. This is by no means an
average travel poster. The coastline and sea of Monte Carlo are barely visible through the staggeringly-
effusive sunburst of “curving stalks of lilacs and hydrangea, featuring some of the most intricate
conflorescences (sic) ever painted by Mucha” (Rennert / Weill p. 136). Mucha’s maiden has her back
turned to the few visible features of the region and is instead facing the viewer in an almost beatific pose.
It has been postulated that Mucha’s design might have been suggesting the wheels of a train and the train
tracks that would bring travelers to Monte Carlo, or perhaps even the curve of a roulette wheel in the
resort’s famous casino. What is certain is that Mucha never went so far in his depiction of flowers and
floral ornamentation as in this poster. “Here Mucha harmonizes accurate realization and decorative
stylization” (Spirit of Art Nouveau p. 165). His extravagant renderings, accomplished even more