The Hungarian National Gallery, the country’s largest public collection dedicated to the birth and evolution of Hungarian fine art, is filling its 2026 calendar with fresh exhibitions, guided tours in multiple languages, hands-on workshops, family days, festivals, concerts, and creative camps for kids. Expect everything from avant‑garde deep dives to playful toddler sessions, plus online events for culture fans tuning in from home.
Kids’ Workshop: Recolor the Past
February 4, 11, 18 – Budapest
How did people live back then? What do images whisper about the past? Kids time-travel through paintings, genre scenes, portraits, and vintage photos to peek into everyday lives: the objects people used, how they dressed, what they played with, and what they dreamed of. Inspired by what they see, they’ll draw, paint, craft comics, and invent their own stories in a museum workshop built for curious minds.
The Beauty of the Body
February 5, 12 – Budapest
Mama, look! The human body—and the nude—has shadowed art history from the start. Every era remade it in its own ideal image. This guided tour dives into the renewed exhibition Nude Sculptures from the Turn of the Century, where changing notions of beauty and human perfection take sculptural form.
Lajos Tihanyi, Restless Charmer
February 5 – Budapest
A special tour led by art manager Nóra Winkler and art historian Tünde Topor spotlights Lajos Tihanyi, the magnetic figure whose life and work bridged salons, cafés, and avant‑garde experiment. Expect personal insights and sharp context around a painter who refused to sit still—artistically or socially.
Budapest–Berlin–Paris: Tihanyi’s Road to Abstraction
February 6 – Budapest
Writer and art historian Rita Halász traces how Tihanyi, born 140 years ago and a defining member of the Nyolcak (The Eight), expanded early 20th‑century Hungarian avant‑garde painting. Follow his path from the café world at the fin de siècle through Berlin’s avant‑garde to Parisian modernism—and see how he moved from figurative compositions to a personal language of pure color and form.
Create! Naked Reality
February 7 – Budapest
From classical ideals to contemporary twists, the human body is one of art’s oldest themes. This session explores works from the 19th century to today, then flips the lens to your own body: after a gallery walk, you’ll make body prints, turning your own form into both subject and tool.
Rebellious Forms, Bold Colors: The Art of Lajos Tihanyi
February 7, 8, 11, 12, 13 – Budapest
A major centenary show marks Tihanyi’s 140th birthday with key paintings, graphics, and personal objects. Deaf since childhood, he forged colors and shapes from silence, finding a distinctive voice without academic training. It’s a vivid portrait of a member of the Nyolcak and one of Hungarian modernism’s most individual painters. Multiple guided tours are available, including English on February 13.
Adolf Fényes: Silence on Canvas
February 7, 10 (online), 15 (curator tour), 21 – Budapest
Discover A csend képei. Fényes Adolf (The Images of Silence. Adolf Fényes) memorial exhibition, paired with related pieces from the permanent collection. Join in person or via an online guided tour to dig deeper into the painter’s quiet power and his world between 1867 and 1945.
French and Italian Tours
February 8 – Budapest
Budapest–Berlin–Paris. L’art de Lajos Tihanyi: take a French-language guided tour of Tihanyi’s painting. On February 13, Visita guidata in italiano offers highlights of Hungarian art from the Middle Ages to today, with special focus on the 19th and 20th centuries—and perhaps a surprise encounter with Dante between canvases.
From Crypt to Dome: Building Walk
February 8 – Budapest
The former Royal Palace, home to the Gallery, hides marvels: explore the Habsburg Palatine Crypt, climb to the panorama-rich dome, and discover tucked-away architectural gems while hearing the story of the museum and its collection.
Toddlers’ Time: Venetian Carnival
February 10 – Budapest
Venice calls with elegance and masks. Little ones ride a carousel, dance, role‑play, and craft a festive carnival mask—the essential souvenir of an Italian fever dream.
Valentine’s Day at the Gallery
February 14 – Budapest
Follow the loves of artists and muses in a romantic tour featuring Pál Szinyei Merse (Szinyei Merse Pál), János Vaszary (Vaszary János), Róbert Berény (Berény Róbert), and more—joyous, passionate, stormy, and tragic stories etched in paint and marble. Add a musical twist with a special guided tour in Tihanyi’s exhibition led by Ádám Bősze and Gábor Bellák. The English-language tour Love is in the Air will introduce muses, lovers, and artists’ spouses, showcasing the greatest and saddest love stories from the painting and sculpture collections.
Deep Dives and Family Adventures
February 14, 21, 22 – Budapest
Art historian Gergely Barki offers an encore lecture: Two or None. Doublings and Gaps in Lajos Tihanyi’s Oeuvre—an expert’s look at repetitions and disappearances in his body of work. Family day Kaland a Galériában – Farsangi átváltozás serves two age groups with guided tours: 10:30–11:15 for ages 6–9, 11:30–12:15 for ages 10–13. On February 22, tour the renewed 19th–20th‑century nude sculpture display in Nude Sculptures from the Turn of the Century and see how ideals changed across decades.
Preschoolers at the Gallery
February 24 – Budapest
How did painters work? What does a painting or sculpture reveal? Kids learn by playing in the galleries and creating in the workshop. Wander through the halls, spot new wonders, play, and uncover stories embedded in the artworks.
Mental Fitness: Sculpture Comes Alive
February 25 – Budapest
Can a statue live? Can you fall in love with a perfectly crafted figure? This month’s Mental Fitness blends nude sculpture, love, and mythology. Roam the permanent galleries and the renewed Nude Sculptures from the Turn of the Century show, then make your own piece in the workshop.
Budapest’s Hungarian National Gallery is leaning all the way into 2026: bold retrospectives, intimate stories, multilingual tours, and tactile sessions that turn visitors into makers. Whether you’re hunting abstraction in Parisian shades, chasing romance on Valentine’s Day, or crafting a carnival mask, the palace on the hill has your next art moment queued up.
