A large-scale exhibition of the works of Károly Ferenczy (1862–1917) opened in the Petit Palais, one of the most prestigious institutions in Paris, on April 13. Art historian Emőke Bodonyi also participated in the installation of the exhibition, and she tells us about the significance of the exhibition and Károly Ferenczy in a short article.
Eight works were borrowed from the Ferenczy Museum in Szentendre for this prestigious event. This is the first time that such a comprehensive exhibition of the artist’s work, featuring nearly one hundred and forty works of art, can be seen abroad, most of which came from the Hungarian National Gallery, but the members of the curatorial staff preparing the exhibition also selected works from numerous public and private collections.
The director of the Petit Palais and his colleagues, together with experts from the National Gallery, also reviewed the collection of the Ferenczy Museum Center in Szentendre in early 2025, and on this occasion they visited the Ferenczy family’s residence, the house on Alkotmány Street, where several significant paintings were created between 1889 and 1893 by Károly Ferenczy. The Paris exhibition, which reviews the creative periods and thematic units, features the artist’s most beautiful works from his Szentendre period in a separate room.
After this short period, Károly Ferenczy’s art was completed, represented by the biblical works and plein air landscapes of the Nagybánya period, and then his nudes, portraits, and paintings depicting circus artists and wrestlers in the studio. The aim of the organizers of the exhibition, which opened at the Petit Palais in Paris, is to make the art of Károly Ferenczy known to the French public as widely as possible and, through this, to provide insight into one of the most important chapters in the development of modern Hungarian art history.
The exhibition can be visited at the Petit Palais in Paris until September 6, 2026.
