Fine art collection

The collection of the Ferenczy Museum Center provides a unique picture of the past hundred years of Hungarian fine art, from naturalism to public art. The first pieces of the collection were included in the initial collection of the then newly founded Ferenczy Károly Museum in 1951. The collection, which continues to this day, continued in several waves until the current concept was formed, which is more dynamic and has a broader perspective than before, while at the same time giving priority to the works of artists working in the city and its surrounding area. The main focuses and direction of the collection of nearly 10,000 pieces thus created are outlined in the current structure in which it reaches from the former founders of the Szentendre artist colony to the artists of the artist colony today and to contemporary artists living and working in the city.

In a collection that is considerable in Hungarian terms, well-known schools such as the ones from Nagybánya, the Neosok that emerged from it, the Nyolcak, the European School, the Hungarian section of the École de Paris, the modern abstraction of the sixties, the constructive efforts, surrealism, Dada and their neo-avant-garde and current fresh versions, which have already entered the public consciousness under the heading of “Szentendre art”, are prominently featured in the collection.

The work of artists who left us extraordinary works and life works in the history of Hungarian art, Lajos Vajda, Endre Bálint, Dezső Korniss, Margit Anna and Imre Ámos, the pictorial legacy of Jenő Barcsay, Béla Czóbel and János Kmetty, which has influenced several generations, is given a prominent role in the collection. Not only the collection, but also one of the masterpieces of Hungarian art history is the oil painting titled Tücsöklakodalom by Korniss Dezső, which stands out from his oeuvre due to its size. The work, made in the summer of 1948 in Szentendre, is a synthesis of the painter’s many years of work, both in terms of its motifs, colors and compositional structure. One of the most significant groups of works by Lajos Vajda is the iconic self-portraits, among which is the Iconic Self-Portrait (1936) preserved in the museum. In his emblematic masterpiece titled Anna Margit Halász (1979), the naively formulated lonely figure is the artist’s self-portrait.

The collection also features works by the Lajos Vajda Studio and contemporary Szentendre artists (including Péter Bereznai, István efZámbó, László feLugossy, Rudolf Pacsika, Ottó Vincze, etc.).