The National Gallery in Prague has several locations holding their temporary and permanent collections. This review is for the Veletržní Palace (Veletržní palác) which currently has the Alfons Mucha: The Slav Epic collection. This is simply an amazing series of 20 HUGE canvases (some 6 by 8 meters) “depicting the history of the Slav people and civilisation” that would “portray the ‘joys and sorrows’ of his own nation and those of all the other Slavs” (as taken from the National Gallery’s site on the exhibition).
It’s a must for anyone visiting this location to get the combined ticket to both the permanent and the Alfons Mucha collections for the price of 240 CZK basic and 120 CZK reduced.
As I have been used to visiting and reviewing different locations under the National Museum in Prague’s network, the collection here at the National Gallery really stuck out to me in all the best ways. The sheer impressiveness of the Alfons Mucha series had the inner gallery-lover in me sold upon first steps inside. I can’t remember ever seeing such a collection of beautiful art on such a large scale so up close before this exhibition.
Every single piece was stunning, and I had never seen this range from Mucha before. Prior to coming to Prague, I had known Mucha only for his art nouveau style with the beautiful young ladies painted in pastel colors with bold lines, but this collection tells stories on such an epic scale. There is so much going on in every canvas painting, I easily spent between 5 and 10 minutes searching for the most minute detail in each piece.
I would definitely recommend checking out this section at the very least, as it has been my absolute most memorable gallery experience in… my entire gallery going life!
The remainder of the permanent collection is also impressive, just saying. There are a lot of Czech artists displayed by centuries, as well as student work on the lower floors, and some interesting portions dedicated to music and architecture. The core reason why I love galleries, and especially national galleries, is learning more about artists that I probably otherwise don’t know about. I never knew Czech art was so appealing to me, and my walk through the entire building (7 floors) took me about 3.5 hours. And I didn’t feel like a second was wasted during this visit 🙂
I am a pretty big fan of quirky graphics and strong images, and the pictures I am posting here are simply the ones I initially took note of. I’m sure every single patron has their own favorites and interests, so just take a look yourself!
Prague Travelers 