Beauty, Truth, and Love

One of Mucha's famed posters.

My most long-standing friend is my cousin Adam. One of the first things I remember of him is his amazing artistic ability. Growing up, I was always in awe of his drawings, which largely consisted of lanky ladies in lavish outfits. My second summer of high school, at our local Barnes and Noble, Adam introduced me to one of his favorite artists—Alphonse Mucha.

Looking through Mucha's works, I realized why my cousin admired him. His pieces were completely captivating, unlike anything I had ever seen before. The artist's trademark style has an ethereal quality to it; the subjects appear enchantingly regal, like quietly omnipotent goddesses; the paintings are highly impressionistic but still precisely detailed. Mucha's unique Belle Epoque style is unmistakable, even among other art nouveau.

Mucha, like my cousin, had always been an artist, even before he could walk. Still, he struggled to make ends meet at first. Finally, at age 34, Mucha was by chance tasked with creating a poster for the upcoming performance of famous Parisian performer Sarah Bernhardt. He used a narrow poster and pastels to create the advertisement, and Bernhardt loved the distinctly modern-yet-sophisticated style so much she had him create posters for all her performances. People were so obsessed with the posters they would cut them down off their posts for themselves.