Artistic Diversity in Budapest

Now we have reached our last stop on the journey through Budapest: Artistic Diversity!

Budapest's rich history in all forms of creative arts is alive and well. New talents are born and discovered every day. The city has a whole range of museums and smaller venues that are all too happy to showcase different generations of artistic genius to the public.

The most famous place is the Hungarian National Gallery, which is located in the Buda Castle Palace and houses the largest exhibition of Hungarian arts. The permanent exhibition shows the history of Hungarian art from its foundation to the present day, with many works by the famous Hungarian painter Mihály Munkácsy.

Exciting temporary exhibitions are also scheduled: Currently, they are showing an exhibition of works by the world-renowned contemporary German master Gerhard Richter. Entitled "Gerhard Richter. Truth in Semblance ", the exhibition is the first comprehensive exhibition of the artist in Hungary and features nearly eighty works from Hungarian and international public and private collections from all periods of his career. The exhibition ranges from his iconic 1960s photo paintings to the colourful abstract works for which he is perhaps best known, to his most recent and intimate pencil drawings.

The Museum of Fine Arts ("Szépművészeti Múzeum") on Heroes' Square in Pest hosts the exhibition "From Cézanne to Malevich - from Arcadia to Abstracts". In addition to works by Cezanne, there are also those by De Stijl masters (Piet Mondrian, Theo van Doesburg and Vilmos Huszár), by artists of the Russian avant-garde (Kazimir Malevich, Alexander Rodchenko, Antoine Pevsner and Mikhail Larionov) and by artists of the Bauhaus (Paul Klee, Lyonel Feininger, László Moholy-Nagy and Sándor Bortnyik). The exhibition of around 120 paintings, sculptures, drawings, watercolours and prints features works from the museum's own holdings as well as loans from important museums and private collections from all over the world.

Furthermore, the recently renewed Egyptian exhibition (renovated in 2018) awaits visitors with a host of new artefacts and themes in larger exhibition spaces. The ancient Egyptian world is presented in three different thematic units: Temples - Gods; the Nile Valley - People; Tombs - the Dead. A new addition is "the secret chamber of the Egyptians", where visitors can expect many new discoveries and there are interesting facts to explore.

The Ludwig Museum offers contemporary and modern artworks, including American Pop Art (Andy Warhol, Claes Oldenburg, Robert Rauschenberg, etc.) as well as Central European artists with a focus on Hungarian art from the 1960s to the present day.

Another place worth visiting is the House of Terror Museum, which opened in 2002, traces the history of the fascist and communist regimes in Hungary in the 20th century through reconstructions of events, places and projections of documents.

Besides the major museums, there are over 200 smaller galleries, which showcase works of smaller artists, photographers and sculptors.

Have fun discovering the artistic diversity in Budapest!