Czech artist František Kupka

From Wikipedia

František Kupka (23 September 1871 – 24 June 1957), also known as Frank Kupka or François Kupka,^[was a Czech painter and graphic artist. He was a pioneer and co-founder of the early phases of the abstract art movement and Orphic Cubism (Orphism).

Kupka studied in Praha, Vienna and after that continued his studies at L´école des Baux-Arts in Paris, where he made a living by painting posters, taught religion and even acted as a spiritualist medium (it is not without interest that Kupka was a supporter of theosophy, Eastern philosophies and mysticism in general).

The entire work of František Kupka was shaped into its final form from the initial descriptive realism through the influences of fading painting tendencies and trends to the final result in abstraction.

The abstract work of František Kupka itself had its own specific development and regularities. This was about processing the topic of movement. Until 1930, the basis of his non-figurative paintings were realistic backgrounds, but the peak period of Kupka's work is represented by so-called pure abstraction. An important role was also played by Kupka's relationship to music, leading to the development of the artistic direction - Orphism.

The works of František Kupka have been exhibited at many exhibitions in Czechia and abroad. Kupka´s works can be seen nowadays In Paris in Centre Pompidou, in Italy, etc.

Kupka František - sophistica (sophisticagallery.cz)  - here you can find a lot of his works.

The auction of each Kupka abstract oil is an event, only one or two paintings of this type appear at world auctions each year.

He is the most expensive Czech painter and his works occur in auctions all over Europe.

Here some of his works:

 Bather, 1906-9

Compliments 

  Precision and Intimity

  Study for fugue

 Woman plucking flowers

  Cosmic spring

Here some examples of auctions:

approx. 2 600 000 USD

approx. 2 862 500 USD

approx. 3 250 000 USD

Meda Mládková, a Czech patron of the arts, who lived abroad for a long time, founded in capital Praha Kampa museum which exhibits also several works of František Kupka.

František Kupka was a visionary, patriot, legionnaire. He ranks among the artists who volunteered after the outbreak of the First World War and joined the French Foreign Legion. They wanted to help defeat Austria-Hungary. After the war, they supported the creation of a new unified successor state - Czechoslovakia.

Kupka was vegetarian, he found inspiration in Theosophy and the occult, and promoted a subjective-intuitive approach to art. He was interested in the Theosophical theory of colour as well as scientific one.

Kupka was trained by Nazarene artists in Prague and Vienna. The Nazarenes wanted to create work that recalled the monumental spiritual artwork of Germany during the Middle Ages. They believed that artwork should produce an effect on the viewer similar to that experienced when listening to religious music.

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                                                     Margaret