In Budapest’s Szent György Square 2 (1014), a sweeping retrospective honors Lajos Tihanyi, the Hungarian master of Expressionism and the avant-garde, known for daring color harmonies and abstract forms. Nearly two hundred works are on view: cornerstone paintings, graphic art, and personal estate objects charting a restless life and a restless eye. Childhood deafness shaped Tihanyi’s inner world; he forged a singular visual language without academic training, emerging as a leading voice of the Nyolcak (The Eight) and one of 20th-century Hungarian painting’s most original figures. Photography is under the copyright protection of the Museum of Fine Arts.
Rebel Forms, Bold Colors – In-Person Guided Tours
On January 23, 2026, from 16:00 to 17:00, a one-hour guided tour opens up the exhibition’s highlights and the artist’s journey from silence to searing chromatic intensity. Participation requires an exhibition ticket plus a guided tour program ticket priced at 1,500 HUF (about 4.20 USD). Capacity is capped at 17 visitors per slot, and the meeting point is the information desk.
Additional dates:
– January 29, 2026, 16:00–17:00
– January 31, 2026, 15:00–16:00
– February 7, 2026, 11:00–12:00
– February 8, 2026, 15:00–16:00
Tihanyi’s path—shaped by the café culture of the fin de siècle, the avant-garde currents of Berlin, and the pulse of Paris—comes alive through close looks at paintings and drawings that reveal the artist’s evolving syntax of color and form.
Online Tour on the Day of Hungarian Culture
Can’t make it in person? On January 22, 2026, 19:00–20:00, an online guided tour unfolds on Zoom at 1,500 HUF per person (about 4.20 USD), with a maximum of 90 participants. The format mirrors the on-site tour: an hour-long dive into Tihanyi’s core works and the personal artifacts that trace his life and methods. After the live session, attendees get a full week to independently explore the exhibition’s virtual space, zooming in on artworks and reading the gallery’s content up close, all from the comfort of home. Duration is 60 minutes.
Accessible Tour with Sign Language Interpretation
On January 25, 2026, 15:00–16:00, the exhibition offers an accessible guided tour with sign language interpretation, ensuring hearing, hard-of-hearing, and deaf visitors can experience it together. Content mirrors the standard tour. Participation requires an exhibition ticket plus the 1,500 HUF (about 4.20 USD) program ticket. Members of SINOSZ may join free of charge with prior registration by January 20. Duration is 60 minutes, capacity 17, and the meeting point is the information desk.
Lajos Tihanyi, the Restless Charmer
On February 5, 2026, 17:00–18:00, art manager Nóra Winkler and art historian Tünde Topor lead a special joint tour: Lajos Tihanyi, the Restless Charmer (Tihanyi Lajos, a nyughatatlan sármőr). Expect a brisk walk through a singular life and an unconventional career, including a legacy that returned home via a circuitous path. A founding member of the Nyolcak (The Eight), Tihanyi “painted a whole gallery of early 20th-century Hungarian literary and artistic luminaries,” with piercing perception. “With him, psychological portraiture marched into Hungarian painting,” and his portraits double as psychological case studies. Alongside images of contemporaries and penetrating self-portraits, the tour spotlights his late-period abstract compositions. What do these works and their backstories say to viewers today?
Full-price tickets cost 7,400 HUF (about 20.60 USD), discounted tickets 4,200 HUF (about 11.70 USD). Capacity is 36, meeting point at the ground-floor exhibition entrance. Tickets are sold online and on-site, first come, first served. After the tour, the exhibition remains open for independent viewing until 18:45.
Budapest–Berlin–Paris: Tihanyi’s Road to Abstraction
On February 6, 2026, 16:00–17:00, writer and art historian Rita Halász leads an unorthodox tour tracing how turn-of-the-century cafés, the Berlin avant-garde, and Parisian modernism shaped Tihanyi. Follow his progression from figurative compositions to the autonomous language of pure color and form. Full-price tickets are 7,400 HUF (about 20.60 USD), discounted tickets 4,200 HUF (about 11.70 USD). Capacity is 20, meeting point at the ground-floor exhibition entrance, and tickets are available online and on-site in order of arrival.
Contacts and Practicals
Venue: 1014 Budapest, Szent György Square (Szent György tér) 2. For information and booking, contact the organizers via the listed phone and email. Duration for most tours is 60 minutes; capacities vary. Secure spots early—some dates fill fast.
