The life’s work of Pál Szinyei Merse, an outstanding master of nineteenth-century Hungarian painting and one of the most influential figures in Hungarian art, is the subject of the latest exhibition at the Hungarian National Gallery, Budapest. The exhibition of around 120 works examines the connections between the paintings in Szinyei Merse’s œuvre and the cult surrounding the artist. As the evolution of his art and the history of his cult unfold side by side, visitors are offered a new perspective on the artist’s prominent position in cultural history.
The exhibition presents Szinyei Merse’s key works in their Hungarian context and in relation to thematic and painterly parallels from the international (primarily German, Austrian and French) art scene of his times. More than twenty paintings by international artists have been kindly loaned to the show by distinguished public and private collections, including masterpieces by Monet, Sisley, Corot, Courbet and Gainsborough.
Author(s): Orsolya Hessky, Réka Krasznai, Adrienn Prágai (editors)
Publisher: Museum of Fine Arts – Hungarian National Gallery, Budapest
Year: 2021
Language: English
Pages: 312
Tags: Hungarian art, Paiting, 19th century, Impressionism
Cover
Contents
Pál Szinyei Merse – Past and present
Pál Szinyei Merse. Year by year
“This was not naturalism, it was not impressionism”. Pál Szinyei Merse and the question of styles
Ab invisis. Unseen, unseeable and yet… Pál Szinyei Merse and France
New contributions to the Szinyei Merse research
From a company of friends to a network of contacts. The history of the Pál Szinyei Merse Society, 1920-1951
“The Szinyei Epic”. Cult and remembrance in museums and beyond
Catalogue
Szinyei Merse and portraiture
At the Academy in Munich
Arcadian impressions
At Lake Starnberg: Courbet and Szinyei Merse
In harmony with nature
Picnic in May
Tourbillon – Dancing nature
“Like a good Manet”: Lady in violet
In the current of Impressionism
The pure source: Back to nature
Spring and autumn – Hunting season
Snowmelt: An example of the impressionist eye
Szinyei Merse and Ferenczy – Connections with Nagybánya
Szinyei Merse rediscovered
The constant motif – The stream
Szinyei Merse’s artist children
The beginnings of the Szinyei Merse cult
Cult and memory
Appendix to the chronology, compile by Anna Szinyei Merse
List of exhibited works, List of illustrations, Bibliography
