La Dame aux camélias
Sarah Bernhardt as the courtesan Marguerite with a camellia in her hand.
Alfons Mucha was commissioned by Sarah Bernhardt to make the poster for her play La Dame aux camélias after Alexandre Dumas the younger. It was the start of a collaboration lasting several years.
Mucha drew the actress in a narrow, tall picture, a form that soon became known as his hallmark. Bernhardt was so pleased that she gave him a six-year contract.
Materials: Colour lithograph on paper
Manufacture: Printed as a colour lithograph in Paris in 1896.
The woman in a white dress with the camellia.
The narrow, tall format as a full-length figure.
The decorated frame with the actress’s name.