Princess Hyacinth Poster by Alphonse Mucha

Art Nouveau is an international style of art, architecture and applied arts that was inspired by natural forms and structures, not only in flowers and plants, but in all decorative curved lines. The "whiplash" motifs are formed by dynamic, undulating, and flowing lines. Alphonse Mucha was a Czech Art Nouveau painter and decorative artist,[3] known best for his distinct style. He produced many paintings, illustrations, advertisements, postcards, and designs. Mucha's works frequently featured beautiful young women in flowing, vaguely Neoclassical-looking robes, often surrounded by lush flowers which sometimes formed halos behind their heads. Mucha always insisted that rather than maintaining any fashionable stylistic form, his paintings were entirely a product of himself and Czech art.