Life story
Karel Čapek was born in 1890 in Malé Svatoňovice as the younger brother of painter and writer Josef Čapek. In 1915 he completed his studies in aesthetics and philosophy at the Faculty of Philosophy of Charles University and received his doctorate; previously he had studied in Berlin and Paris.
He was an editor of Národní listy, which he left in 1921 in protest against the exclusion of his brother from the editorial board, and later of Lidové noviny. From 1921 to 1923 he was the dramaturg and director of the Vinohrady Theatre, and from 1925 to 1933 he was the first chairman of the Czechoslovak section of the PEN club.
The Čapek brothers were central figures of regular Friday gatherings of political and cultural personalities—the Friday circle. Karel Čapek conducted conversations with Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk, which were published in three volumes and remained a unique testimony to the first Czechoslovak president. He was also a passionate photographer; his Dášeňka, or The Life of a Puppy from 1933 became the best-selling photographic publication of the First Republic.
He died on December 25, 1938, several months before the occupation of Bohemia and Moravia. He is buried in Vyšehrad Cemetery.
Portrait: Wikimedia Commons (Public domain).
Constellation of Life
Important milestones that shaped their journey.