The Seasons
Medium
Color lithograph on paper
Dimensions
Each panel: 15 × 43 cm (5 15/16 × 16 15/16 in.)
Classification
lithograph
Department
Prints and Drawings
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
97439
Rights
Public Domain
Art Historical Context
Alphonse Mucha’s *The Seasons* (1897) is a series of four color lith that personify spring, summer, autumn, and winter through graceful female figures. Created at the height of the Art Nouveau movement, the panels showcase Mucha’s signature style: flowing, organic lines, delicate floral motifs, and harmonious pastel palettes printed with remarkable precision on paper. Each slender composition, measuring just 15 by 43 centimeters, was designed to function both as fine art and accessible decoration for the modern home. Lithography allowed Mucha to reach a wide audience, transforming his elegant visions into affordable prints that captured the era’s fascination with nature, femininity, and decorative beauty. Produced in Paris during a period when the city embraced the new style, these panels reflect the movement’s desire to bring art into everyday life. Today they remain among the most beloved examples of Art Nouveau graphic work, preserved in the Art Institute of Chicago’s collection of prints and drawings.
About the Artist
Alphonse Marie Mucha · 1860–1939
**Alphonse Maria Mucha (1860–1939)** was a Czech painter, illustrator, and graphic artist whose elegant, decorative style became synonymous with Art Nouveau. Born on 24 July 1860 in the small town of Ivančice in southern Moravia (then part of the Austrian Empire), he was the eldest of six children in a modest family; his father Ondřej worked as a court usher and his mother Amálie was a miller’s da...