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to the creation of a promotional poster of the Greek melodrama Gismonda , by Victorien Sardou. Sarah Bernhardt, the actress playing the main character of the work, contacted the printing press Mucha worked for on Christmas Eve. His new project was so groundbreaking at that time that it attracted the attention and admiration of the entire city. In addition, his style had a great influence on all the artistic trends that began to develop at that time amongst the more bohemian parts of the city. The picture's model was depicted life size in a more stylized way, with Byzantine and Oriental flavours, bringing a certain dose of unreality, of elegant languor with a great deal of harmony; an uncommon occurence in the dominant trends of the time. Faithful to his romantic concept, he was able to reflect the utopia of a beautiful yet accessible, but not frivolous art; for that reason many recognise him as the precursor of merchandising. In 1898, Mucha visited Barcelona, Tarragona, Valencia, Cartagena, Granada, Córdoba, Madrid, Toledo and Zaragoza to make illustrations for a book that never came to light. █ A n essential visit if you travel to Madrid for any reason until the 25th February is the exhibition on the work of Alphonse Mucha (Ivančice, 1860 - Prague, 1939) housed in the Gaviria Palace, located at no. 8 calle Arenal, right next to the popular Puerta del Sol. The show, with more than two hundred artworks, largely fromtheMucha Foundation, clearly shows howvisionary, mystical and cosmopolitan the Czech artist was. Before dedicating himself as a poster artist in Paris at the end of the 19th century, he worked as an art teacher, as well as illustrating books and magazines, and also displayed great talent as a photographer. His style became an icon of Art Nouveau and by 1900, with the great Paris Universal Exhibition, Mucha was already considered one of the best artists in world decorative art, and so his fame soon reached the United States. A pioneer in linking art and advertising, he was in fact one of the architects of what we now know as graphic design and his highly personal style —theatrical and allegorical— launched an army of imitators. 1894 saw Mucha have his first great success thanks ALPHONSE MUCHA Multifaceted and visionary 'Art is the expression of the most intimate feelings ... a spiritual need' Exposició/Exposición/Exhibition Alphonse Mucha. Foto/Photo Jesús Varillas