On January 9, 2026, Budapest marks the 140th birthday of Lajos Tihanyi (Tihanyi Lajos) with a sweeping retrospective of nearly 200 works—his most important paintings and graphics, plus personal archive pieces—installed at 2 Szent György Square (Szent György tér 2.), 1014. The Hungarian master of Expressionism and the avant-garde forged a radical visual language without academic training, experimenting with daring color and abstract form. The exhibition reframes a life shaped by silence: after losing his hearing in childhood, Tihanyi created color and form out of quiet and found a singular voice in paint.
The show also illuminates his central role in The Eight (Nyolcak), situating him as one of the 20th century’s most original Hungarian painters. Many of the works resonate with a fierce, expressive energy, from early portraits of literary and artistic luminaries to late abstractions that join the international conversation of modernism. Note: photography is under the copyright protection of the Museum of Fine Arts.
Guided Tours: “Rebellious Forms, Bold Colors”
A core one-hour guided tour, “Rebellious Forms, Bold Colors – The Art of Lajos Tihanyi (Tihanyi Lajos),” runs multiple times, beginning on January 9, 2026, 16:00–17:00. Additional dates:
– January 11, 15:00–16:00
– January 17, 15:00–16:00
– January 23, 16:00–17:00
– January 29, 16:00–17:00
– January 31, 15:00–16:00
– February 8, 15:00–16:00
Participation requires a temporary exhibition ticket and a program ticket priced at 1500 HUF (about 4.17 USD). Capacity is capped at 17 people, duration is 60 minutes, and the meeting point is the information desk. Expect a close look at his most defining canvases and drawings, and how his personal story shaped a fearless aesthetic.
Curator-Led Deep Dive: “TIHANYI 140” with Mariann Gergely (Gergely Mariann)
On January 15, 16:00–17:00, curator Mariann Gergely leads a special tour tracing the improbable afterlife of Tihanyi’s legacy: until the 1970s, Hungarian audiences mostly knew his works only in black-and-white reproductions, and his estate reached the Hungarian National Gallery from Paris 55 years ago via a winding path. The tour explores the artist’s biography—meningitis at 11 led to deafness, altered speech, and reliance on lip-reading—and how his outsider status and lack of formal schooling shaped a distinct pictorial language.
Falling in with painters and writers in Nagybánya (Baia Mare) as a young man, Tihanyi moved in intellectual circles before emigrating in the winter of 1919 and never returning. Already a recognized artist with a 1918 solo at Lajos Kassák’s (Kassák Lajos) MA gallery, he became a key figure in Vienna, Berlin, and Paris, later New York, before settling again in Paris in the 1930s. His signature achievement is a monumental portrait series of cultural figures: Hungarians like 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), and international names such as Ivan Goll, Diego Rivera, Tristan Tzara, Filippo Tommaso Marinetti, and Brassaï. Critics compared the expressive pitch of these portraits to Oskar Kokoschka. In his final years, he turned to compelling abstractions and joined Abstraction-Création in 1932. Full-price ticket: 7400 HUF (about 20.57 USD). Discounted: 4200 HUF (about 11.67 USD). Max 17 people, meeting at the ground-floor entrance.
“The Person Behind the Palette” with Art Historian Gergely Barki (Barki Gergely)
On January 16, 16:00–17:00, art historian Gergely Barki leads an unconventional tour of “Tihanyi 140,” probing the man as deeply as the painter. Despite hearing loss and speech difficulties, Tihanyi was highly social—rich in friendships and, yes, rivalries—yet lived largely alone, never forming a long-term partnership. His temperament could be difficult, but he remained unflinchingly honest and true to himself. This tour explores how those contradictions echo in the work and whether personal ties left their mark on the canvases. Full-price ticket: 7400 HUF (about 20.57 USD). Discounted: 4200 HUF (about 11.67 USD). Capacity 20. Meeting at the ground-floor entrance. Tickets are sold online and on-site, first come, first served.
Online Tour: See It from Home
On January 22, 19:00–20:00, join a live Zoom tour marking Tihanyi’s 140th. Afterward, attendees get a full week of independent access to the virtual exhibition space: zoom in on works and explore in-gallery content up close. Fee: 1500 HUF (about 4.17 USD) per person. Max 90 participants. Duration: 60 minutes.
Signed and Inclusive: Tour with Sign Language Interpretation
On January 25, 15:00–16:00, the “Rebellious Forms, Bold Colors” tour is offered with sign language interpretation so deaf, hard-of-hearing, and hearing visitors can experience it together. Entry requires the temporary exhibition ticket plus a 1500 HUF (about 4.17 USD) program ticket. The content mirrors other tours, with sign language support throughout. For SINOSZ members, admission and participation are free with advance registration by January 20. Duration 60 minutes, max 17 people, meeting at the information desk.
Budapest–Berlin–Paris: The Road to Abstraction with Rita Halász (Halász Rita)
On February 6, 16:00–17:00, writer and art historian Rita Halász guides a tour tracking Tihanyi’s evolution from figurative compositions to a pure language of color and form—shaped by turn-of-the-century café culture, Berlin’s avant-garde, and Parisian modernism. Full-price ticket: 7400 HUF (about 20.57 USD). Discounted: 4200 HUF (about 11.67 USD). Capacity 20. Meeting at the ground-floor entrance. Tickets available online and on-site in order of arrival.
Across all programs, expect a vivid portrait of an artist who tuned the silence of his world into blazing chromatic music—an uncompromising voice that moved from Budapest to Berlin and Paris, and from portraits to abstraction, without ever losing its edge.
