Frantisek Kupka the great Czech artist, the genius of abstract art
Frantisek Kupka is a famous Czech artist of the 20th century, an outstanding representative of post-impressionism. František Kupka is best known for painting in the Orphist style, although at an early stage of his work he was an adherent of realist art.
Frantisek Kupka is considered to be the most expensive painter of Czech origin in the world. The cost of the artist’s works at prestigious art auctions these days is usually several million US dollars, and most of his masterpieces are kept in museums in Prague.
Biography of Frantisek Kupka
Frantisek Kupka was born in the small town of Opoczno, Czech Republic. The future artist was the eldest child in the family of a local notary and loved to draw since childhood. Therefore, in 1887, the parents sent their son to study at the Prague Academy of Fine Arts. And five years later, Frantisek moved to Vienna and lived in the capital of Austria for three years, attending classes at the local academy.
Having mastered the basics of painting, in 1896 the 25-year-old Kupka went to conquer Paris, which at that time was considered the main center of European fine art. He settled in Montmartre, where hundreds of young artists lived and worked, hungry for fame and recognition. Unlike most of his colleagues, Kupka quickly achieved significant success in his career. Already in 1898 he opened his own studio, where he painted and created illustrations for books. Soon he signed a major contract with several literary publications and became widely famous throughout the capital under the pseudonym Paul Regnard as the author of sharp social cartoons.
Frantisek persisted in his realistic style until the early 1910s.
The young artist was desperately looking for new ways to express himself creatively and came to the conclusion that the time had come to abandon figurative painting. Frantisek Kupka met the beginning of the First World War enthusiastically and immediately signed up as a volunteer in the army. He got to the front already in the autumn of 1914 and took part in fierce battles on the Somme as part of the Czech international company on the side of the Entente troops. But six months later, the artist fell seriously ill and was sent to the rear for treatment. For three years he recruited Czech volunteers for the Foreign Legion. In the summer of 1918 he was again mobilized to the front.
Kupka returned to civilian life at the end of the war.
Then he received a proposal for cooperation from the Prague Academy of Arts. He was enrolled in the staff of the educational institution as a professor and instructed to patronize Czech students. The heyday of the professional career of the painter began, which lasted until the end of the 1930s. He enthusiastically painted pictures in the style of abstractionism. A huge role in the life of the master was played by friendship with the famous Czech industrialist Jindrich Voldes. A wealthy Jew from Prague turned out to be a passionate supporter of Kupka’s work and bought dozens of his works. With the proceeds, the artist bought a spacious house in the suburbs of Paris, where he set up a workshop.
Frantisek Kupka was a very extraordinary person, and the range of his interests was not limited to the fine arts. For many years the artist was a staunch vegetarian and a follower of nudism, and also seriously studied biology, history, philosophy, optics and mechanics. After the Second World War, he was often invited to the United States for exhibitions of abstract artists, where he received many prestigious awards.
The last years of his life, the Czech master of painting lived in the suburbs of Paris Puteaux with his wife, whom he officially married back in 1905. They had no children, so the artist bequeathed his entire fortune to his beloved wife. He died at the age of 85. He was buried in the famous Parisian cemetery of Pere Lachaise, where the grave of the outstanding master is still located today.