November and December pack the Hungarian National Gallery with concerts, kids’ workshops, bold modern art, and behind-the-scenes building tours that climb from crypt to dome. Here’s what’s on, and why you’ll want to circle a few dates.
On Sunday, November 16, the Diósd Gellért Choir fills the first-floor dome hall with choral warmth. Sunday concerts at the museum are about variety and atmosphere—this one promises both, right in the echoing heart of the building.
Toddlers Time-Travel to Parlors and Salons
November 18: Tipegők – Little Ladies and Gentlemen. The toddler-friendly Tipegők program slips into the world of elegant homes and salons. Expect a peek at how children once lived and dressed, and how they spent their days—more starched collars and lace than screen time.
Kids’ Theatre Lab: Make Masks, Play Roles
November 19 and 26: Recolor It! (Színezd újra!) – Museum workshop for kids. Theater moves into the Gallery: children step into artworks, write and perform stories, and craft core stage essentials—masks, puppets, headpieces—and even sketch a set. One day you’re a king or queen, the next a farmhand or a gooseherd; remember, it’s all play.
Sunny Stillness and Everyday Magic
November 20: Look at that, Mom! – Sunny days. A guided family tour dives into the Pictures of Tranquillity exhibition and brings Adolf Fényes’s works into focus alongside the permanent collection, where sunlight slips through simple rooms and market scenes sparkle with life.
The Eight Shake Up Modernism
November 22: Pre-announced guided tour of The Eight (Nyolcak). Linked to the Lajos Tihanyi retrospective, this tour spotlights the radical group The Eight. First known as the Seekers (Keresők), they exhibited together just three times between 1909 and 1912—but like a shockwave from a scientific and tech revolution, they jolted Hungarian culture and visual art awake.
From Crypt to Dome—Twice
November 23 and November 30: Explore the Gallery – From the Crypt to the Dome; Building walk – From the Crypt to the Dome. Meet the former Royal Palace of Buda up close. You’ll see the Habsburg Palatine Crypt, take in the jaw-dropping view from the dome, and thread through corners of the National Gallery most visitors never find.
Lajos Tihanyi: Color From Silence
November 27, December 6, 11, and 21: Rebel Forms, Bold Colors – The Art of Lajos Tihanyi. The 140th anniversary of Tihanyi’s birth brings a major retrospective of key paintings, graphics, and personal objects. Losing his hearing in childhood, Tihanyi conjured color and form from silence and forged a singular visual language—without academic training. A leading figure of The Eight and one of the most original voices in 20th-century Hungarian painting. On December 6, join a guided tour of the show and go deeper into his art.
Adolf Fényes, Lit From Within
November 27: Mama, look! – Sunny weekdays. Even if his name doesn’t ring a bell, Fényes’s canvases do: sunlight in humble interiors, lively markets, and the quiet everyday that touches as deeply as history painting. Wander through his landscapes and intimate rooms while asking how a peasant yard meets French Impressionism, what ties a Szolnok veranda to Paris, and what century-old genre scenes say about simple joys and sorrows.
A Magnifying Glass on Beauty
November 29: The Last Painter of Beauty: Adolf Fényes | Lecture by art historian Gábor Bellák. This lecture series expands the exhibitions with stories, curiosities, and connections you’d miss on the wall text—everything you spot only under the magnifying glass.
Winter Journeys and Holiday Glow
December 3, 10, and 17: Recolor It! (Színezd újra!) – Museum workshop for kids. A wintry voyage through Hungarian art: icy landscapes, warm homes, and magical stories. Kids meet Saint Nicholas, Mary, and baby Jesus, then make art inspired by what they’ve seen.
Mother and Child, Then and Now
December 4: Mama, look! – Maternal parallels. In the lead-up to Christmas, find Mary and Jesus across panel paintings and sculpture, then trace how this timeless theme returns in modern and contemporary art. December 18’s Look at that, Mom! – Reflections of Motherhood follows the same thread in English, marking the season of the most famous child’s birth.
Advent, With Art
December 10: Mental Fitness – Christmas miracle. An Advent program that slows everything down: quietly contemplate paintings and altarpieces, then make something inspired in the studio.
Gold Leaf and Good Cheer
December 6: Create! – Golden celebration. On Saint Nicholas Day, tune into the season: meet the legend of Saint Nicholas and step into the gleam of Gothic altars and the history of gilding. After the tour, paint small table linens with gold motifs from the altars—sparkling accents for the holiday table.
Italian, Anyone?
December 12: Visita guidata in italiano. Discover Hungarian art’s major masterpieces in Italian, from the Middle Ages to today, with special attention to the 19th and 20th centuries. With luck, you might even meet Dante among the canvases.
Holiday Moods With Fényes
December 13: Festive moods with Adolf Fényes. A tour steeped in flavor, snow, toys, angel music, and pine scent. The Fényes memorial exhibition takes center stage, with resonant works from the permanent collection rounding out the mood.
Advent From Underworld to Sky
December 14: Advent building walk – From the Crypt to the Dome. Another chance to trace the palace’s hidden paths, the Palatine Crypt’s hush, and that wide-open dome view—holiday edition.
Toddlers Follow a Star
December 16: Tipegők – Shooting stars. Chase a bright celestial guide through centuries-old altars, listen for angels, crunch through an imagined snowy landscape, explore the power of white paint, then craft for the holidays after the gallery adventure.
