Around Christmas 1894 , Mucha happened to drop into a print shop where there was a sudden and unexpected need for a new advertising poster for a play starring Sarah Bernhardt , the most famous actress in Paris . About Christmas 1894 , Mucha happened to go into a print shop where there was a sudden and unexpected need for a new advertising poster for a play featuring Sarah Bernhardt , the most famous actress in Paris , at the ThÃ Ã cents tre de la Renaissance on the Boulevard Saint-Martin .