The Hungarian National Gallery is the country’s largest public collection documenting the rise and evolution of Hungarian visual art. Inside Buda Castle, the museum runs permanent and temporary exhibitions, guided tours in multiple languages, thematic programs, family days, festivals, and concerts. Kids get hands-on too, with creative clubs, art education workshops, and summer camps that turn the galleries into a playground for ideas.
Phenomenon: This Was Lajos Tihanyi
On January 30, art historian Blanka Bán leads a deep dive into the life and mind of Lajos Tihanyi, the painter who lost his hearing in childhood but built a striking visual language from silence. Expect candid questions and crisp answers: what his parents envisioned for him, why he painted both sides of certain canvases, how contemporaries described his character, and how he captured them in portraits. The tour traces his leap from the vivid color worlds of Fauvism to fully nonfigurative abstraction. Budapest.
Embroidered in Concrete
January 31 brings writer and art historian Rita Halász for a subjective guided tour titled “Embroidered in Concrete,” blending literature and art history as she threads personal impressions through the museum’s current displays. Budapest.
Rebellious Forms, Bold Colors – The Art of Lajos Tihanyi
Marking the 140th anniversary of Tihanyi’s birth, the Gallery unveils a landmark retrospective of paintings, graphics, and personal objects. Without academic training, he forged a radical visual vocabulary that helped define the Nyolcak (The Eight) and made him one of the 20th century’s most original Hungarian painters. Deprived of hearing, he tuned into color and shape, finding his own voice on canvas. Guided tours shed light on his techniques, shifts in style, and the fierce independence that runs through his oeuvre. Tours on January 31, February 7, 8, 11, and 12. Budapest.
The Eight, Announced Guided Tour
On February 1, a tour expands the Tihanyi lens to the Nyolcak (The Eight), the group initially known as the Keresők (Seekers). Active for barely three years—1909 to 1912—with just three joint exhibitions, they still shook Hungary’s cultural life like a scientific-technological revolution. Budapest.
Sunday Choir Concert
Also on February 1: music swells under the first-floor dome as the Albert Schweitzer Chamber Choir and Orchestra perform, adding live harmony to the gallery’s visual chorus. Budapest.
Online Tours, On-Demand
Can’t get to the castle? February 3 offers an online guided tour of the Tihanyi show, while February 10 streams through the Adolf Fényes exhibition—ideal for a deep look from the sofa. Budapest.
Kids’ Studio: Color It Anew!
On February 4, 11, and 18, the museum workshop for children asks how people used to live—and lets paintings, genre scenes, portraits, and old photos answer. Kids explore objects, clothes, games, and dreams of the past, then draw, paint, craft comics, and spin their own stories from what they see. Budapest.
Tihanyi, the Restless Charmer
February 5 pairs art manager Nóra Winkler and art historian Tünde Topor for a joint tour: Lajos Tihanyi, the restless charmer. Expect sharp character studies and smart context. Budapest.
Look, Mom! The Beauty of the Body
Also on February 5, a tour of the renewed Nude Sculptures from the Turn of the Century (Aktszobrok a századfordulóról) reframes the nude as a timeless theme reflecting shifting ideals and images of humanity across eras. Budapest.
Budapest–Berlin–Paris: Tihanyi to Abstraction
On February 6, writer and art historian Rita Halász tracks Tihanyi across café culture at the fin de siècle, Berlin’s avant-garde, and Parisian modernism—showing how he moved from figurative compositions toward a pure language of color and form. Budapest.
Adolf Fényes: Images of Silence
February 7 spotlights The Images of Silence. Adolf Fényes (1867–1945), bringing the memorial show into focus and linking it to the permanent collection. Curator Ágnes Horváth steps in with a dedicated tour on February 15. An online visit follows on February 10. Budapest.
Create! Naked Reality
On February 7, a studio session traces depictions of the human body from the 19th century to today. After a gallery walk, participants make body prints—turning their own limbs into both tool and subject. Budapest.
French and Italian Guided Tours
February 8 offers French: Budapest–Berlin–Paris. L’art de Lajos Tihanyi—an invitation to discover the painter en français. February 13 turns to Italian with a panoramic tour of Hungarian art from the Middle Ages to the 20th century—maybe even a Dante sighting among the canvases. Budapest.
From Vault to Dome: Architectural Walk
On February 8, the museum opens its secrets: the Habsburg Palatine Crypt, the panoramic dome, and other special corners of the former royal palace. Budapest.
Lectures, Music, and Valentine’s
February 13 features Rebellious Forms, Bold Colors in English. February 14 stacks up: art historian Gergely Barki on “Two or None. Doublings and Gaps in Tihanyi’s Oeuvre”; a Valentine’s tour of Hungarian love paintings with Pál Szinyei Merse, János Vaszary, and Róbert Berény; a musical tour with Ádám Bősze and Gábor Bellák; and Love is in the Air, guiding visitors to muses, lovers, and artists’ wives through paintings and sculptures. Budapest.
And One More for Families
February 10’s Toddlers (Tipegők) dives into the Venetian Carnival—rides, dancing, role-play, and a handmade mask to top it off. Budapest.
Coming Up
On February 19, Look at That, Mom! – The Beauty of the Human Body returns in English, keeping the focus on the enduring magnetism of the nude in art. Budapest.
