In 1865, he was enrolled at the local gymnasium, but failed his courses and transferred to the Realschule in České Budějovice, where he met a teacher who encouraged his artistic interests.

He soon ignored his studies and spent more time at the local art schools, prompting his parents to bring him home to work in the family business.

He had to leave, in 1891, apparently because he was being pursued by creditors and, on his wife's suggestion, moved to Bystřice pod Hostýnem where they lived in a forester's house, courtesy of Baron von Loudon.

In 1899, he accepted a teaching position at the newly opened Brno University of Technology,[2] but was not pleased, as the work involved simple technical drawing, rather than art.

To make matters worse, his creditors tracked him down again and he was able to avert legal action only by receiving financial assistance from the poet, Josef Svatopluk Machar.