The Czech avant-garde artist Bohumil Kubišta came from a rural farming family. Educated in Hradec Králové, Kubišta moved to Prague in 1903 to attend art school, first at the School for Applied Art (1903–4) and then at the Academy of Fine Art (1904–5). After a year of service in 1905 with the Austrian Imperial Navy in Pula he studied at the Institute of Fine Art in Florence (1906–7). Upon his return to Prague he contributed to the first exhibition of Osma (The Eight, spring 1907) before returning to military duty in Pula. In summer 1908 he participated in Osma’s second and final exhibition.