The Hungarian National Gallery, home to the country’s largest public collection tracing the birth and growth of Hungarian fine art, opens 2026 with a packed calendar. Expect major exhibitions, guided tours in Hungarian and other languages, themed programs, family days, festivals, concerts, and plenty for kids: creative clubs, art education workshops, and summer camps. The headline this season is a sweeping celebration of Lajos Tihanyi, marking 140 years since the artist’s birth—an exhibition that threads through tours, talks, and hands-on sessions.
Jan 21 – Mental Fitness: New Year, New Style
Kick off with a style shake-up. Artists like János Vaszary, József Rippl-Rónai, and Aurél Bernáth didn’t just change with the times—they reinvented themselves. A gallery-floor walk explores how wildly different paintings can still belong to one artist from different periods. In the studio, channel one of Rippl-Rónai’s styles and try it yourself. Location: Budapest.
Jan 21 & 28 – Recolor It! Kids’ Museum Workshop
January’s Recolor It! club turns children into detectives inside the Gallery’s halls. The mission: unmask the secrets of Lajos Tihanyi. Kids scrutinize dozens of his works, hunting down hidden details to crack a larger puzzle. Alongside sleuthing comes making: they’ll forge “fake” paintings, create a composite portrait, and experiment with photo manipulation. Location: Budapest.
Jan 22 – Online Tour of the Tihanyi Exhibition
Explore the Tihanyi show from home with a guided online tour honoring the Day of Hungarian Culture. Dive deeper into the painter’s methods and impact without leaving your couch. Location: Budapest.
Jan 23, 29, 31; Feb 7, 8 – Rebellious Forms, Bold Colors: Lajos Tihanyi
The flagship retrospective lays out Tihanyi’s key paintings, graphics, and personal objects. Deaf since childhood, Tihanyi summoned colors and forms out of silence, finding a singular voice in paint. Without academic training, he forged a striking visual language that made him a defining figure in The Eight (Nyolcak) and one of the most original Hungarian painters of the 20th century. Multiple guided tours available. Location: Budapest.
Jan 24 – Adventure in the Gallery: Strange Faces
Two kid-friendly tours zero in on unusual portraits and character studies. Slots: 10:30–11:15 for ages 6–9, and 11:30–12:15 for ages 10–13. Location: Budapest.
Jan 24 – Doubles and Gaps in Tihanyi’s Oeuvre
Art historian Gergely Barki unpacks the theme Kettő vagy egy sem (Two or None)—doublings and hiatuses within Tihanyi’s life’s work. A deep dive into repetitions, missing links, and the evolution of motifs. Location: Budapest.
Jan 25 – Tihanyi Tour with Sign Language Interpretation
An accessible guided visit to the Tihanyi retrospective, featuring sign language interpretation. Location: Budapest.
Jan 27 – Toddlers: Snowflake Dance
Bundle up for a winter wonderland inside the Gallery. Discover how forests turn white, spot hidden colors in snowy scenes, then sing, tell stories, and dance with the snowflakes. Location: Budapest.
Jan 29 – Mama, Look! The Silence Speaks
A family-focused session on how Tihanyi’s childhood illness and resulting deafness shaped his art—and how limitation transformed into a unique strength. Location: Budapest.
Jan 31 – Embroidered in Concrete
Writer and art historian Rita Halász leads a subjective tour titled Embroidered in Concrete, offering a personal lens on selected works. Location: Budapest.
Feb 1 – The Eight: Scheduled Guided Tour
Linked to the Tihanyi retrospective, this guided tour explores The Eight (initially called The Seekers), who worked together from 1909 to 1912. Though brief, their three joint shows rattled Hungary’s cultural and visual arts scene like a scientific and technological revolution. Location: Budapest.
Feb 5 – Tihanyi, the Restless Charmer
Art manager Nóra Winkler and art historian Tünde Topor co-lead a tour delving into the restless charisma behind Tihanyi’s persona and practice. Location: Budapest.
Feb 5 – Mama, Look! The Beauty of the Body
A guided journey through depictions of the human body, especially the nude, across eras—mirroring each period’s ideals. The visit spotlights the renewed exhibition Nude Sculptures from the Turn of the Century (Aktszobrok a századfordulóról). Location: Budapest.
Feb 6 – Budapest–Berlin–Paris: Tihanyi’s Road to Abstraction
Rita Halász returns for an unconventional tour tracing how café culture around 1900, Berlin’s avant-garde, and Parisian modernism shaped Tihanyi. Follow the arc from figurative compositions to a pure language of color and form. Location: Budapest.
Feb 7 – Create! Naked Reality
From the 19th century to today, artists have wrestled with the human body. This workshop starts with a gallery walk, then flips the script as your own body parts become both subject and tool: make body prints and explore mark-making in a tactile way. Location: Budapest.
Feb 7 – The Art of Adolf Fényes
A guided visit to The Images of Silence: Adolf Fényes (1867–1945) Memorial Exhibition, plus related works in the permanent collection. Location: Budapest.
Feb 8 – Building Tour: From Crypt to Dome
The former royal palace that houses the Gallery is a marvel in itself. Learn the museum’s story while visiting the Habsburg Palatine Crypt, the panoramic dome, and other rarely seen corners of the building. Location: Budapest.
Feb 10 – Toddlers: Venetian Carnival
Set off for Venice, city of elegant masquerades and lavish parades. Climb onto the carousel, dance, and try on different roles—rounding off with carnival-inspired play the little ones will love. Location: Budapest.
