Over the past decade, the city has honored the painter with a series of large-scale events.Continue reading
One of the most anticipated exhibitions of 2024 is Munkácsy 180, which will be hosted by the Museum of Fine Arts between November 26, 2024, and March 9, 2025. The anniversary exhibition is poised to attract numerous visitors to the impressive building.
According to Magyar Nemzet, the Museum of Fine Arts has already housed many highly-anticipated exhibitions. Yet, what have been the most successful exhibitions in the last ten years, drawing hundreds of thousands of visitors each?
A selection of the genius painter’s works was admired by more than 200,000 visitors between April 14, 2023, and July 16, 2023. The exhibition of forty-five works offered a comprehensive view of the main themes, motifs, and life of Tivadar Csontváry Kosztka (1853-1919). Among the displayed works were The Ruins of the Greek Theatre in Taormina, The Fountain of Mary in Nazareth, the Waterfall at Jajce and Waterfall at Schaffhausen, the Lonely Cedar, and Pilgrimage to the Cedars in Lebanon.
Also attracting more than 200,000 visitors, the exhibition of El Greco’s (~1541-1614) oeuvre, which ran from October 28, 2022, to February 19, 2023, was the first to be shown to the Hungarian public. The exhibition of almost seventy works provided a broad overview of the work of El Greco, one of the most outstanding masters in the history of European art, showcasing both his formal complexity and his great stylistic development.
In addition to the five original El Greco works that can be admired at the Museum of Fine Arts, the large-scale show brought such outstanding works as St. Sebastian from the Palencia Cathedral, The Baptism of Christ from the Prado in Madrid, St. Louis the King of France with a Breadwinner from the Louvre, and The Exorcism of the Devils from the Church from the National Gallery in London.
235,000 visitors attended the selection, which was on display from October 15, 2014, to February 15, 2015. The exhibition, curated by Ildikó Ember, was centered around the Dutch master, Rembrandt (1606-1669). Twenty of his masterpieces were presented. Divided into seven sections, the collection focused on the historical background and portraiture of the period. Contemporary furniture and utensils from the Museum of Applied Arts and maps, atlases, and globes from the Széchényi Library completed the exhibition.
From April 9, 2022, to July 17, 2022, this exhibition attracted 252,000 visitors and presented the work of Hieronymus Bosch (1450-1516), one of the most influential and emblematic masters of European painting. It was the most important exhibition to follow this theme in half a century. Nearly ninety works brought Bosch’s unique world to life.
The exhibition included paintings such as the Last Judgement triptych, The Ship of Fools, Adoration of Kings, St John on the Island of Patmos, and Ecce Homo.
283,000 visitors attended the Renoir-themed exhibition, which ran from September 22, 2023, to January 21, 2024. The exhibition explored Renoir’s (1841-1919) relationship with the models who inspired his art through paintings, prints, and sculptures, in a chronological and thematic arrangement.
Renoir: Dance at Le Moulin de la Galette (1876). Picture: Wikipedia
Although Renoir is widely acknowledged as one of the most celebrated Impressionist painters, much of his oeuvre moves outside the boundaries of this stylistic movement. His unparalleled talent as a painter, his impressive productivity, and perseverance inspired great figures of the next generation, including Pablo Picasso and Henri Matisse.
Last, but by no means least, the Museum of Fine Arts’ greatest ever success: the Van Gogh in Budapest collection was admired by 483,000 visitors between December 1, 2006, and April 1, 2007.
Van Gogh: The Yellow House (1888). Picture: Wikipedia
It was the 15th most visited exhibition in the world that year. Almost 80 works by the post-impressionist Dutch painter were on view, from major collections around the world, including the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam, the Musée D’Orsay in Paris, The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, and the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC. With some 150 works on display, the institution celebrated its 100th birthday in style.
Via Magyar Nemzet; Featured Image: Facebook / Szépművészeti Múzeum