Promptly ignoring this advice, at the age of 19, he went to Vienna to work as a theatrical set painter. 1883 saw him painting murals in Emmahof Castle in Austria, on the invitation of Count Karl Khuen-Belassi, whom Mucha had met in the Moravian town of Mikulov. The count would later sponsor Mucha’s studies at the Munich Academy of Arts. In 1887, Mucha made his fateful move to Paris, where he studied at the Académie Julian, then later at the Académie Colarossi (still funded by the generous count). The money ran out in 1889 and Mucha looked for employment as an illustrator. During this time, he met artist Paul Gauguin, who was soon to depart for Tahiti. In 1893, Gauguin returned to Paris and shared a studio with Mucha in the rue de la Grande Chaumičre.