Budapest marks the 140th anniversary of Lajos Tihanyi with a sweeping career exhibition and a packed program of guided tours, talks, and an online walkthrough at 2 Szent György Square (Szent György tér 2.), 1014 Budapest. Nearly two hundred works come together: his keystone paintings and graphics, personal estate objects, and the radical color harmonies and abstract forms that made him a force in Hungarian Expressionism and the avant-garde. Note: the photo of the show is under the copyright of the Museum of Fine Arts.
TIHANYI 140 with curator Mariann Gergely
January 15, 2026, 16:00–17:00
At 140, Tihanyi’s reputation is overdue for the kind of full-color, in-person reckoning this exhibition provides. Until the 1970s, the Hungarian public mostly knew his work through black-and-white reproductions. His estate reached the Hungarian National Gallery from Paris via a circuitous route 55 years ago—a story in itself. His life was shaped by a profound personal tragedy: at eleven, he lost his hearing due to meningitis, which also affected his speech; he relied on lip-reading. He never completed academic training, forging his distinctive painting and drawing style through an intensely personal way of seeing. As a young man he visited Nagybánya (Baia Mare), fell in with painters and writers, and moved in the era’s intellectual circles. He emigrated in the winter of 1919 and never returned to Hungary. A key figure among The Eight (Nyolcak), he had a solo show at Kassák’s MA circle gallery in 1918—already a known quantity when he left the country. He lived in Vienna, Berlin, and Paris, then New York, returning to Paris in the 1930s.
Ticket: 7,400 HUF (about 20.40 USD); reduced: 4,200 HUF (about 11.60 USD). Max 17 people. Meeting point: ground floor, exhibition entrance.
Portraitist of a generation—and beyond
Tihanyi plugged into the international avant-garde currents coursing through Berlin and Paris, forging connections with leading figures. The beating heart of his oeuvre: a run of portraits of notable personalities. Alongside Hungarian luminaries—Lajos Kassák (Kassák Lajos), Lajos Fülep (Fülep Lajos), Endre Ady (Ady Endre), Mihály Babits (Babits Mihály), Józsi Jenő Tersánszky (Tersánszky Józsi Jenő), Dezső Kosztolányi (Kosztolányi Dezső), Pál Pátzay (Pátzay Pál), György Bölöni (Bölöni György)—he captured major names on the international scene: Ivan Goll, Diego Rivera, Tristan Tzara, Filippo Tommaso Marinetti, Brassaï. His expressive tone drew comparisons to Oskar Kokoschka. In his final years he pushed into thrilling abstraction, joining the Abstraction-Création group in 1932.
The Man Behind the Palette with art historian Gergely Barki
January 16, 2026, 16:00–17:00
This offbeat tour digs into Tihanyi’s persona as much as his canvases—two strands that intertwine and reflect each other. Deaf and challenged in speech yet sociable, he amassed friendships and rivalries, yet lived essentially alone. He never formed a lasting partnership—perhaps a mix of his disability and a thorny temperament—but remained disarmingly honest and true to himself in relationships. How that filters into his art, and whether his personal ties shaped his painting, unfolds in Barki’s hour-long walk-through.
Ticket: 7,400 HUF (about 20.40 USD); reduced: 4,200 HUF (about 11.60 USD). Max 20 people. Meeting point: ground floor, exhibition entrance. Tickets available online and on-site, first come, first served.
Rebel Forms, Bold Colors – The Art of Lajos Tihanyi
January 17, 2026, 15:00–16:00
The major retrospective honors Tihanyi’s 140th with headline paintings, graphics, and personal items. Losing his hearing in childhood, he built color and form from silence, crafting a singular voice without academic schooling. His uncommon visual language made him one of The Eight’s most original members and a pivotal figure of 20th-century Hungarian painting. Join a guided tour to get closer to his methods, moods, and evolution. Participation requires the temporary exhibition ticket plus a program ticket of 1,500 HUF (about 4.10 USD). Duration: 60 minutes. Max 17 people. Meeting point: information desk.
More dates:
– January 18, 11:00–12:00
– January 23, 16:00–17:00
– January 29, 16:00–17:00
– January 31, 15:00–16:00
– February 7, 11:00–12:00
– February 8, 15:00–16:00
Online tour: step into Tihanyi’s world from home
January 22, 2026, 19:00–20:00, on Zoom
Celebrate the anniversary with a live online guided tour, then explore the virtual exhibition space on your own for a week—zoom into works and study wall texts up close. Fee: 1,500 HUF (about 4.10 USD) per person. Max 90 participants. Length: 60 minutes.
Sign-language interpreted tour
January 25, 2026, 15:00–16:00
This accessible edition of Rebel Forms, Bold Colors includes sign-language interpretation so hearing, hard-of-hearing, and deaf visitors can share the experience. Entry requires the temporary exhibition ticket plus the 1,500 HUF (about 4.10 USD) program ticket. Free for SINOSZ members with prior registration by January 20. Duration: 60 minutes. Max 17 people. Meeting point: information desk. Content identical to the standard tour.
Lajos Tihanyi, the Restless Charmer with Nóra Winkler and Tünde Topor
February 5, 2026, 17:00–18:00
An extraordinary life, a nonconformist career, and an estate that came home by adventure. A founder of The Eight, Tihanyi painted an entire gallery of early 20th-century Hungarian literary and artistic icons with razor-sharp insight. With him, psychological portraiture marched into Hungarian painting; his portraits double as full-blooded psychological studies. He often turned the lens on himself, and his late-period abstract compositions are no less compelling. What do his works—and their backstories—say to us now? Ticket: 7,400 HUF (about 20.40 USD); reduced: 4,200 HUF (about 11.60 USD). Max 36 people. Meeting point: ground floor, exhibition entrance. Tickets online and on-site, first come, first served. After the tour, the show remains open for independent viewing until 18:45.
Budapest–Berlin–Paris: Tihanyi’s road to abstraction with Rita Halász
February 6, 2026, 16:00–17:00
Writer and art historian Rita Halász leads a tour tracking how café society at the turn of the century, Berlin’s avant-garde, and Parisian modernism reshaped Tihanyi’s approach—from figuration to a self-contained language of pure color and form. Ticket: 7,400 HUF (about 20.40 USD); reduced: 4,200 HUF (about 11.60 USD). Max 20 people. Meeting point: ground floor, exhibition entrance. Tickets online and on-site, first come, first served.
