The Oath of Omladina

After the Thirty Years’ War ended, hard times fell on the Czech nation, according to Alphonse Mucha. Recatholisation, centralisation and Germanisation culminated in the 18th century under the reign of Maria Theresa and her son Joseph II. However, after a period of political and language oppression came the Czech national revival. The Praguers fought vigorously for the restoration of their cultural and national identity. Towards the end of the 19th century, a group of progressive youth, Omladina, was founded. They were accused of treason and seventy six of them were tried in 1894, with sixty-eight of them being sentenced to a total of ninety-six years in prison. They included later politicians and cultural figures, such as Alois Rašín, Karel Stanislav Sokol, Stanislav Kostka Neumann, and others.

The painting shows a sacred Slavic lime tree with Mother Slavia sitting in its crotch. (Mucha’s model was a real lime near Žamberk.) The young people kneeling in front of it are swearing allegiance to the nation and mutual solidarity. In the left part of the background is a seated old man with a large grey moustache – a figure from Serbian history serving as a reminder that a similar movement existed in that country. Taking his oath on the right is a Sokol member.

The details of the swearing people’s faces are unfinished since Mucha wanted to avoid depicting politicians of his time. In 1925 and 1926, while he was painting it, the criticism of his work had culminated so it is probable that his resentment at the insults did not allow him to finish the picture. Only the lower part of it is elaborated: the harp playing girl on the left has the face of Mucha’s daughter, Jaroslava,
and the boy on the right has the appearance of his son, Jiří. Their friends epitomise youth – the future of the nation.

According to Alphonse Mucha, only that nation which knows its history and roots can live and work for both
the present and the future. The old guslar on the right is singing about the glorious deeds of ancestors, and the young people are listening. On the extreme right we can see the swastika, a symbol of the sun moving, which was worshipped by the ancient Slavs as well as other pagan peoples.