Jan Preisler (1872-1918) was a Czech Symbolist painter and art professor, one of the notable figures of early twentieth-century painting in Bohemia. His work moves from Symbolism toward Expressionism, and his paintings of inner moods make him an important point of transition in Czech art.
He trained at the School of Applied Arts in Prague, where he first worked under František Ženíšek before continuing on his own. Early on he was shaped by the luminism of Vojtěch Hynais, but later he absorbed the work of Hans von Marées, Maurice Denis, Paul Gauguin and Pierre Puvis de Chavannes, which drew him toward Symbolism. He travelled to Italy in 1902 and to Paris in 1906, and he taught at the Academy of Fine Arts in Prague.
His paintings deal with spiritual themes and states of mind made visible, often carrying a sense of melancholy and anxiety close to the writing of Ibsen and Strindberg. He used flat areas of pure colour with strong, vivid contrasts. Between 1905 and 1912 he produced large murals for the Prague Town Hall, the Bohemian Bank and the Hradec Králové Museum, and he also made cartoons for mosaics.