Episode 15: A Collector Couple's Legacy & Alphonse Mucha: The Soul of a Nation

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Show Notes:

In this episode, Zahra returns to Vienna's Lower Belvedere for a quieter, more intimate visit — this time with just her cousin and an Impressionism exhibition that changes the game. Between the artwork, she discovers the story of a collector couple, and their decades-long journey teaches her three lessons she won't forget.

Meanwhile, Sami picks up a €2 magnet in Prague and falls completely in love. The artist? Alphonse Mucha — a name he'd never heard before. What starts as admiration for beautiful posters becomes a three-act journey through Parisian fame, Czech nationalism, and a tragic ending that connects to today's world in ways neither host expected.

Art collecting wisdom, cultural resistance, and one very emotional moment.

Highlights:

• The Lower Belvedere — smaller, calmer, better for art virgins
• Three lessons from collectors who lived at the time of Matisse and Renoir
• How Alphonse Mucha became an overnight sensation in 1894 Paris
• From commercial success to The Slav Epic — Mucha's dramatic shift
• Women as messengers of nationalism and cultural identity
• Why this Czech artist's story resonates with modern Iran