Budapest’s Virág Judit Gallery and Auction House is unveiling an ambitious 2026 program of exhibitions, auctions, and art events at 30 Falk Miksa Street (Falk Miksa utca 30), with bidding available in person, by phone, via absentee bids, or on the gallery’s own online platform. The season’s headline is the 18th Contemporary Auction, spotlighting postwar and contemporary stars of Hungarian art at the Budapest Music Center on Tuesday, May 19, at 6 p.m. A preview exhibition runs May 4–16, daily from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. at the gallery.
Showstopper: Hantaï’s Monumental 1955 Canvas
The marquee lot is a large 1955 oil by Simon Hantaï, titled simply “Festmény” (Painting). Starting bid: 50 million HUF (about 135,000 USD). Estimate: 95–120 million HUF (about 257,000–325,000 USD). Access to Hantaï on the Hungarian market is rare, doubly so for work of this scale and caliber. Hantaï built his career in France and became one of the world’s best-known abstract painters; in 2016, a Hantaï sold for 1.4 billion HUF (about 3.79 million USD), the highest price ever paid for an artwork by a Hungarian or Hungarian-born artist.
Blue-Chip Names Under the Hammer
Heavyweights line up alongside Hantaï: Imre Bak’s “Die Stadt” (The City, 1995) opens at 11 million HUF (about 29,700 USD). Ákos Birkás’s emblematic “Fej” (Head) series appears with the 1996 “Kopf.” Pál Deim’s Szentendre-school “Csend” (Silence, 1990) has an 8.5 million HUF (about 22,900 USD) start and is already drawing buzz. Ilona Keserü, holder of the auction record for a living Hungarian artist at 110 million HUF (about 297,000 USD), returns with “Anguillara,” painted in 1963 during her Rome scholarship year; opening at 10 million HUF (about 27,000 USD).
Who Else to Watch
Rounding out the roster: Dóra Maurer, János Fajó, István Nádler, and ef Zámbó István—names keenly tracked by collectors of postwar Hungarian art. Venue: Budapest Music Center; viewing at 30 Falk Miksa Street (Falk Miksa utca 30); and a streamlined, multichannel bidding setup to keep the paddles—and the pixels—flying.
