Заветная мечта всей жизни Альфонса Мухи — цикл «Славянская эпопея» — двадцать монументальных полотен. Эпопея воспринимается довольно противоречиво. Техника исполнения — масло в комбинации с яичной темперой.

Первые полотна — «Славяне на исконной Родине», «Праздник Свантовита»* и «Введение славянской литургии в Моравии» — были подарены городу Праге 6 декабря 1912 г.

30 мая 1914 г. были сданы «Оборона Цигета», «Печатание Кралицкой Библии в Иванчицах» и «Отмена крепостного права на Руси». Эти работы отличаются внушительными размерами — 8 × 6 м, точнее 810 × 610 см. Во время Первой мировой войны фабрика, изготовляющая холст для полотен, подверглась бомбардировке, поэтому размеры последующих полотен пришлось несколько уменьшить (620 × 405 см).

9 октября 1916 г. Муха передает городу Праге картины «Ян Милич из Кромержиржа»*, «Проповедь Яна Гуса в Вифлеемской капелле»** и «Встреча в Кржижках».

19 октября 1918 г. из мастерской художника поступают полотна «Петр Хельчицкий»* и «Ян Амос Коменский — последние дни в Наардене»**.

В 1919 г. эти одиннадцать полотен были выставлены в Праге, в 1921 г. они с огромным успехом экспонируются в Бруклинском музее Нью-Йорка.

24 февраля 1924 г. Муха дарит городу Праге картину «Пржемысл Отакар Второй»*, 16 сентября — полотно «После Грюнвальдской битвы»**, в 1925 г. — работы «После битвы на Виткове»*** и «Гуситский король Иржи Подебрадский»****.

В октябре 1928 г. Альфонс Муха и Чарлз Р. Крейн, американский промышленник и дипломат, финансировавший этот гигантский проект, торжественно объявляют, что все двадцать монументальных полотен преподносятся ими в дар чешскому народу и городу Праге, включая те, которые были созданы в 1926–1928 гг., т. е. «Штефан Душан»*, «Царь Симеон Болгарский», «Апофеоз истории Славянства» и «Присяга общества Омладина»**.

This image depicts the celebration of the harvest festival of honouring the pagan god Svantovit, taking place on the Baltic island of Rujana's capital city of Arkona. The treasure-filled temple which lay at the heart of the celebration was a place of pilgrimage for Slavs during the eighth to tenth centuries. Arkona was later conquered by Danish warriors and, by Mucha's time, had acquired mythic status as a symbol of former Slavic glory.

The temple can be seen in the left background. Brightest amongst the pilgrims in the foreground is a mother and child, with sun setting on the scene behind her. In the top left is the Viking god Thor with a pack of dogs, foretelling the future destruction of Arkona. At the very top, centre, a Slavic warrior is dying in the in front the figure of Svantovit who sprouts the leaves of the linden tree. The vertical shaft of blue/white is the warrior's sword which is being taken by the god to protect the future of the Slavs.

The importance of artistic endeavour as a response to war is emphasised by the three musicians in the centre right of the composition and the foreground figure of a wood carver being consoled and inspired by his muse.

The period of Slavic liturgy came to an end with the death of Methodius and his disciples were forced to take refuge in the court of the Bulgarian Tsar Simeon. A former monk who became an important military figure, Simeon was also a considerable scholar who commissioned the translation of many Byzantine texts into Slavonic.

The Tsar is shown in a magnificent Basilica, with the expelled priests being depicted in the upper mosaics. The Tsar is in every sense central to the composition, radiating authority and grandeur; he is attended by philosophers, writers, linguists and scribes all intent on their work. The subject matter of their attention is the books and documents encapsulating the past and future of the Slavic people

Stepan Dusan was a strong military leader who took advantage of the failing Byzantine empire to expand Slavic territory southwards, being crowned in 1346 as Tsar of the Serbs and Greeks. From this position he instituted a code of law which held force throughout the Roman Empire.

The subject of the picture is the procession which followed the coronation. It is led by young girls in native dress who steal the scene from the elders bearing the Tsar's sword and crown, their youth expressing Mucha's hope for the future. The newly crowned Tsar's red-lined cloak frames his figure in the centre of the composition.

In the Fifteenth Century, Jan Huss emerged as a religious leader in Prague and was to become the major figure of the Reformation in Bohemia. He was burned at the Stake in 1414 following an appearance at the Council of Constance, an incident which triggered a Czech national rebellion which led in turn to the Hussite wars.

Mucha shows Huss preaching in the Bethlehem chapel in Prague in 1412, with attending students taking notes. On the right of Huss is the founder of the chapel, merchant Kriz, while to his left is Jan Zizka, future military leader of the Hussites; Queen Sophia is seated under the baldachin on the right. A priest by the baptismal font, extreme left, is making notes for use in the trial of Huss at the Council of Constance.

The early fourteenth century was marked by military incursions by the German Order of Teutonic Knights into the land of the Northern Slavs. In response, The Polish King Wladyslaw Jagiello and the Czech King Vaclav IV signed a defensive treaty which was first acted upon at the battle of Grunwaldu in 1410 when the Slavs won an important victory. Mucha elects to illustrate not the fighting but the aftermath, with the Polish King holding his face in sorrow as he views the cost to both enemy and ally.

This composition though stylistically similar to the depiction of the battle of Vitkov, deals with a different aspect of the Hussite Wars. Vodnany was a small town caught in the crossfire between the Hussites and the Germanic forces. They chose to flee to Petr Chelcicky, a religious peasant philospher. When they arrived, they lay down exhausted and dieing, consumed by anger and grief, their homes burning in the background. Chelcicky moves amongst them with a Bible, offering comfort and support, asking that they do not seek vengeance.

This is the most clearly pacifist of Mucha's series of battle paintings and relates closely to the carnage brought about by the First World War which was drawing to a close when the scene was painted.

In 1566 The Turks began advancing along the Danube into the Hungarian plains. Their advance was eventually halted at the city of Sziget by a citizens' army let by Croatian nobleman, Nicholas Zrinsky. With the  town under siege, he was obliged to fire the Old Town to deter advances. After a further nineteen days and with Zrinsky dead, the women of the city took refuge a watchtower; Zrinsky's widow, realising the inevitability of defeat, threw a touch into a gunpowder store, destroying the city but inflicting damage on the Turkish army which halted their progress.

Mucha captures the moment of the explosion in his only portrayal of an ongoing battle. In so doing, he divides the scene between the sharply focused sacrifice of the women on the right and the blurred images of destruction to the left. The device used to split the picture, a mushroom-shaped prop, is uncannily prophetic of later wars.

Following military defeat in 1620, the Czechs were forcibly returned to Catholicism, with those who resisted being deported. Notable amongst the exiles was Jan Amos Komensky, a spiritual leader of the Brethren and a passionate advocate of education and learning. The spiritual content of his writings was a source of inspiration to his fellow countrymen who dreamed of a return to independence. Mucha depicts his death- scene, with Komensky inert in a chair on the sea shore of the Dutch town of Naarden where he lived in later life.

In the foreground are his followers mourning the death of their leader whose sense of loneliness and isolation is emphasised by the greys of the sea and the sky. The patch of light, centre left, comes from a small lantern which symbolises the remote hope of return to the homeland.

In the 1890's a patriotic youth organisation called Omladina was formed, with a liberal, anti-clerical agenda. Their ideas met with official disapproval and their leaders were taken out of circulation in 1904. Mucha shows members of the movement taking a patriotic vow under the Linden tree occupied by a goddess and linking the movement with the mythic past of the Slavic people.

The two standing figures on the left are painted in egg tempera, never having being finished in oils. Owing to this factor, the painting was never exhibited in Mucha's lifetime, leading some authorities to the harsh judgement that the entire cycle is 'unfinished'.

Also of interest are the figures on the low wall . Mucha used his own children as models for two of these figures; on the right the young boy is his son Jiri while to the left the figure playing a harp is his daughter Jaroslava. This later image is very similar to the one featured in the poster produced for the 1928 exhibition.