Kupka first studied at the Art Academy, Prague, then in Vienna. In 1984 he went to Paris and he spent the rest of his life in France. His career embraced graphic art (he made a huge number of posters) and figurative painting. From about 1912 his work became influenced by Cubism and the Orphic movement. In 1931 he was a founder member of Abstraction-Creation. There have been various posthumous retrospective exhibitions, in Paris, New York, Prague and elsewhere