Frida Kahlo at the Hungarian National Gallery

Frida’s love letter to Muray Miklós,
 written in Hungarian.

This is the first time ever that we can see paintings from Frida Kahlo in Hungary. At the exhibition there are 35 works displayed from the collection of the Museo Dolores Olmedo Mexico City. There are exactly 26 paintings and 9 drawings to be seen.

Born to a German father and a mestiza mother Frida has spent her childhood and most of her adult life at her family home in Coyoacán, La Casa Azul that is the Frida Kahlo Museum nowadays.

She was disabled by polio as a child and at the age of 18 a traffic accident caused lifelong pain for her. This is how art became important for Frida who originally wanted to go to medical school. After the accident she had to wear body cast for three months and to kill time and not to think about the pain she started painting self-portraits with the help of a mirror and a special easel in her bed.

Meeting Diego Rivera was the second accident in her life – she said. They married, divorced then remarried again; both had lovers during their married life. One of the lovers of Frida who I wish to mention here was the Hungarian photographer Muray Miklós who emigrated to America fleeing the treat of World War I. Miklós and Frida met for the first time in 1931 and later they became on and off lovers for almost ten years. Miklós wanted to marry Frida but as Frida wanted him as a lover only he finally left her. Nevertheless they remained good friends until the death of Frida in 1954. In the exhibition a photo of a love letter from Frida can be seen on one of the walls. It was beautifully written in Hungarian.   

Her paintings and drawings show her experiences in life, her physical and emotional pain, miscarriages and her relationship with Diego. I try to show you here other works of her as the well-known self-portraits.

Fridamania

Frida was mainly known as Diego’s wife until the late 1970s, when her work was rediscovered. Today her art and appearance influences the biggest fashion houses, tattoo artists, jewellery makers and basically the whole world.

The exhibition is open until 4 November 2018.

Le Dîner en Blanc de Budapest

With my colleagues we were invited to the third edition of this beautiful event in Budapest. Years ago white parties were popular in the city. I also attended some of them. These parties were in night clubs and the only rule was to arrive in white.

Well, this concept is different from those, much more elegant, social and sophisticated. The location was a secret until the very last minute for the participant and it was important to be dressed nicely. Arriving to Clark Adam square, where I met my colleagues, more and more people arrived in white. Those who just passed by were curious to know what is going on in the city. It looked amazing. The location was in the castle district, in front of the National Gallery were the view is breath-taking over the city. Everything looked perfect as we arrived except the sky. Grey clouds were above us but nobody cared. The crowd of beautifully dressed people, the view of the city, the atmosphere distracted anyone’s attention from the weather... until we had a few drops of rain…then it stopped. In the meantime we were told if there is a strong rain we carry on inside the National Gallery. Few minutes later it started to rain cats and dogs and the crowd went to the Gallery screaming and laughing at the same time. Don’t forget your wine glass – one of my colleagues told me. J It took a little time to find everybody in our team and to find our new place but we picked a table on the second floor not far from my favourite Vaszary János painting: The Morphinist. Honestly it was good to see that nobody cared much about the wet clothes and ruined hair & make up. We had so much fun. We ate good food; we had nice talks and danced afterwards. So nice to see your colleagues in a different place than the office at work…so nice to talk about other things than work.

We looked so beautiful together all in white. 

Guests are arriving to the party.

Inside the Hungarian National Gallery.

With my colleagues as we arrived to the party.

I became an Art Valuer

With my degree.

I am an economist who is in love with visual arts but this year I made a little step ahead to discover more. 

In June I have finished my Art Valuer course. One year non-stop studying, visiting art galleries, auctions, learning about art history, techniques and even about how to identify fake paintings.

As a result I have a long list of cities and museums: what to visit in the coming years. Great plans.

As the course is over, what I miss the most the wonderful people I met at. Such colourful team: art historians, art collectors, lawyers, a retired lady, and an old gentleman, who completed his studies at the age of eighty. His dream is to open his own gallery. Never give up your dreams. My next dream is to study art history in Florence. What is yours?

Learning about the Landauer Altar by Dürer in Vienna at the Kunsthistorisches Museum.

Visiting the Hungarian National Gallery.

Art Valuer workshop

I especially liked the back of the paintings. The history behind. 

Cheking the signature.

Julian Rosefeldt’s MANIFESTO

13 channel film installation. 130 minutes.

Seen at the Hungarian National Gallery.

Had to go twice as I couldn’t take it in at one go.

Cate Blanchett is great.

El Kazovszkij

A superb exhibition is closing this weekend at the Hungarian National Gallery. As I am an insider it is always very emotional to close an exhibition. 

We start working on the selection of books and gifts for the museum shop months before the exibition opens. We look at all the images and start dreaming about how the shop could look like and what selection of gifts to produce. We were lucky enough to visit the artists apartment in Budapest and decided very quickly that the shop has to look the same way. We searched the same titles the artist had at home, and created similar jewellery and badges. As there are many soft toys in the collection we also sell teddy bears in the shop. :) 

Deep breath...we are already working on the next exhibition and our new shop: PICASSO.

The entrance of the exhibition.

The main hall.

The main hall.

I just love the way the artworks are installed.
The lighting is also amazing.

I believe this is the coolest exhibition of the
Hungarian National Gallery.



Strong colours.

Some of the artist's clothes and shoes are also exhibited.

...and very cool photographs.

The books and some cute teddy bears.

Badges of all kinds.

Hello you!

Mugs with a very stong symbol the artist used.

Museum shop crew.