The Phillips Collection’s latest special exhibition offers an immersive and deeply satisfying look at the work and legacy of Czech painter and decorative artist Alphonse Mucha.

“Timeless Mucha: The Magic of Line” surveys his entire career, with over 100 works from the Mucha Trust Collection on display. It also catapults visitors into the 1960s and beyond, highlighting the way his work was rediscovered in psychedelic art, music and even manga. This is the first stop on the show’s North American tour, and absolutely shouldn’t be missed.

Mucha worked across mediums, including comic strips, caricatures and magazine covers, along with drawings, paintings, lithographs and posters. With so many visual mediums on display, the exhibition feels fresh and rewarding, even as it might remind you of your college years with some of his most familiar posters scattered around the show. This show establishes exactly why his work has been remarkably popular and influential into this century, and also reappraises Mucha with a deep study of his graphic art.

“Alphonse Mucha’s designs were grounded in his belief that beauty could speak directly to the soul,” Tomoko Sato, curator at the Mucha Foundation, said in a statement. “For Mucha, art was about more than technique — it conveyed moral and emotional depth, making it accessible to all.”

Much of what he did exists at the intersection of art and commerce. He chafed against the idea of art for art’s sake, and instead turned toward making art that truly was accessible: magazine covers, calendars, even advertisements.

Some of the most exciting posters on display lean into that belief, like those he made of actress and celebrity Sarah Bernhardt. His posters of her are transformative, and she emerges as an Art Nouveau dream. His stunning first poster of her, “Gismonda,” highlights the inspiration the Byzantine civilization held for him throughout his career. And his designs for Champenois’ calendars, converted into decorative panels for the home like 1896’s color lithograph “Zodiac,” mix beauty and commerce, too.

This is a truly comprehensive show, and showcases Mucha’s extraordinary and distinctive talents. There’s rich imagery, defined by strong lines and soft elements. Flowers spill over frames within frames. Elements of occultism and mysticism emerge alongside the centered images of the female figure. His ties to Catholicism, Pan-slavism and Japanese art and design are also explored in vases, drawings and watercolors, along with the impact of the places he lived, his academic training and his friendship with fellow artists like Paul Gauguin.

It’s a pleasure to spend time with Mucha’s works. They’re stylish, ethereal and full of surprises. Vines spiral around borders as beautiful women in flowing dresses hold their eyes aloft. “Precious Stones: Emerald” from 1900 features a hissing snake atop the woman’s red hair, a prime example of his otherworldly, intricately detailed vision exploding in floral patterns and geometry.

Everything Mucha did seemed to be with an eye toward exploring dreamy, beautiful and commercial art. He worked for Lefèvre-Utile, the Nantes-based manufacturer of biscuits, and defined their brand. He made posters for holiday travel. He designed ads for cigarette papers. And they’re all spectacular.

“Mucha’s pioneering posters were more than advertisements; they were a means to make art part of daily life,” Renée Maurer, associate curator at The Phillips Collection, said in a statement. “Through his designs, Mucha created moments that resonate, and his legacy lives on in the way we experience beauty and emotion through line and form.”

Mucha’s legacy exploded after 1963 exhibitions in London and with the Art Nouveau revival. The show’s exploration of how other artists interpreted and used his ideas, especially his signature “Q-formula,” works extraordinarily well, and adds a big dose of fun to the proceedings. Video game art from Final Fantasy adorns a wall next to a tour poster for Jefferson Airplane. The next room holds a poster for the Jimi Hendrix Experience and a display box of Marvel comics, all harkening back to Mucha. The Grateful Dead and Thin Lizzy make appearances with their LP covers, and you can even listen to some of the albums while you wind your way through the end of the show.

Spanning his art from childhood, like “Crucifixion” from 1868 when was about eight, to manga and tour posters from the 1960s to today, this exhibition sheds new light on Mucha’s origins and inspirations, and the long thread of his legacy.

“Timeless Mucha: The Magic of Line” is on view through May 18.

All photos courtesy of the Phillips Collection.