Masaryk was born in
Vienna on 1 May 1880. After displaying an early talent for painting, he studied in Prague, Florence (1900–1901) and Antwerp (1901–1902), but remained largely self-taught. He was influenced by
Impressionism,
Expressionism, the
Vienna Secession and the fairy tale illustrations of
Hanuš Schwaiger. His work consists primarily of portraits and landscapes. In 1905. he became good friends with the painter
Antonín Slavíček and lived with his family in
Kameničky. After Slavíček's suicide in 1910, Masaryk married his widow, Bohumila, and adopted his children. He died in Prague on 15 March 1915 of
typhus; apparently contracted while working with
Galician war refugees in
Borová and
Polička. In 1993, a major retrospective was organized by the "". It was opened by President
Václav Havel and Masaryk's two surviving daughters and drew over 50,000 attendees. Of his approximately 300 paintings, almost 100 are unaccounted for. Many of these were probably lost just after his death when his sister,
Alice, was arrested by the Austrian government and her property was seized in an effort to discover hidden political writings by their father. == Selected paintings ==