La Femme Animee en Fleur Alphonse Mucha Buy Art Prints Now
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Tom Gurney BSc (Hons) is an art history expert with over 20 years experience
Published on June 19, 2020 / Updated on October 14, 2023
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There were two different artworks with the title of La Femme Animee en Fleur which feature women alongside flowers and plants from the career of painter and illustrator, Alphonse Mucha. Both perfectly summarise a major body of work from his career and also give a glimpse of the Art Nouveau movement.

Mucha was a male artist who seemed to perfectly understand the feminine nature of the opposite sex, and so his oeuvre varied considerably from others of that era. He produced work which has stood the test of time and remains popular today, even with many who only hold a fleeting interest in art history. You will find photographs of his work all across the media, with many being unaware of who actually produced each of these illustrations and paintings, such is the accessible and immediate nature of his imagery. Mucha would also work in other ways, such as with his historical recreations that provided extraordinary detail and took on other technical challenges, but it is his female portraiture that provides the signature look to his overall career. He would later encourage his daughter to continue the family trade, and she became an artist as well.

This painting features a female figure looking directly at us with a serious expression. Her hair is glamorously curled, with flower heads arranged within it. Her long dress is relatively simply styled, though with a decorative element around her chest which has a classical look to it. She stands barefooted, perhaps allowing her to fully connect with the nature that surrounds her, and her dress continues much further than necessary, gathering on the floor around her feet. Behind her is a blue circle upon a yellow background, and over the top is a whole myriad of flower heads which are intertwined in a complex format. The layout of plants roughly follows the figure of this woman, though with a more intense use of detail used above her head. The artist then signs the piece in the bottom left corner, using a signature which remains consistent throughout his career.

Mucha is regarded as the main contributor to the Art Nouveau movement, with others from across Europe being loosely connected to this innovative set of creative individuals. Another too look out for was Antoni Gaudi, a Catalan architect who you may already be aware of. His own talents crossed into furniture and jewellery design and he loved to spread his talents across many disciplines, just as Mucha would do too. Each nation might have had its own name for this movement, but collectively that have since been grouped together and their style has proven to be particularly contemporary and remains particularly popular, with Mucha's portraits of women having a prominent role within that.