The Hungarian National Gallery is the country’s largest public collection documenting how Hungarian fine art was born and how it evolved. Across its grand halls you’ll find permanent and temporary exhibitions, guided tours in Hungarian and other languages, themed programs, family days, festivals, and concerts. Kids get extra love: creative clubs, art education workshops, and summer camps are all on the menu.
Kids Become Sleuths: Color It Again!
January fires up the Color It Again! workshop for children with a playful mystery. The gallery is full of hidden stories, and young detectives are tasked with tracking a great painter: Lajos Tihanyi. They’ll comb through dozens of artworks, hunt down every clue tucked into the canvases, and piece together the final riddle. The sleuthing comes with hands-on making: kids “forge” paintings, create a composite sketch, and experiment with photo manipulation. Sessions run January 7, 14, and 21. Budapest.
Look at That, Mom! – Sunny Days
On January 8, a family-friendly guided tour dips into the Pictures of Tranquillity exhibition, pairing it with works by Adolf Fényes (1867–1945) from the permanent collection. Expect quiet moments, glowing light, and gentle storytelling. Budapest.
Rebel Forms, Bold Colors: Lajos Tihanyi at 140
Marking the 140th anniversary of Lajos Tihanyi’s birth, the Gallery stages a standout career exhibition on January 9, 11, 17, 23, and 25, showcasing his key paintings, graphics, and personal belongings. Deaf from childhood, Tihanyi conjured colors and forms from silence and forged his own voice in the language of painting. Without academic training, he developed an extraordinary visual vocabulary that made him a defining member of the Nyolcak (The Eight) and one of the most original figures in 20th-century Hungarian art. Join a guided tour to dive deeper into his world. January 25 also features a sign-language-interpreted tour for accessibility. Budapest.
Discover Hungarian Masterpieces in Italian
On January 9, an Italian-language tour sweeps through highlights of Hungarian art from the Middle Ages to today, with a special focus on the 19th and 20th centuries. You might even “meet” Dante among the paintings. Budapest.
Adolf Fényes’s Sunlit Worlds
January 10 shines a light on Adolf Fényes, whose paintings flood simple interiors with sunshine, animate market scenes with storybook vitality, and put everyday life on par with grand history. The tour wanders through intimate interiors and landscapes to explore how a peasant yard sits in the shadow of French Impressionism, what links a veranda in Szolnok to Paris, and what these more-than-century-old genre scenes reveal about modest joys and sorrows. Budapest.
Toddler Time: Snowflake Dance
Bundle up for a winter adventure on January 13 and 27. Little ones explore how the forest turns white and what colors hide in snowy landscapes. There’s singing, stories, and yes, dancing with snowflakes. Budapest.
Curators, Historians, Writers Take the Stage
On January 15, curator Mariann Gergely leads TIHANYI 140, reflecting on how, until the 1970s, Tihanyi’s works were known in Hungary mostly through black-and-white reproductions, and how his estate—after a dramatic journey—reached the Gallery from Paris 55 years ago. The same day, Mama, Look! – The Silence Speaks examines how Tihanyi’s childhood illness and resulting deafness became a catalyst for a uniquely powerful artistic voice. January 16 brings art historian Gergely Barki’s unconventional tour, The Person Behind the Palette, inside the TIHANYI 140 show. On January 24, Barki returns with a talk: Two or None. Doublings and Hiatuses in Lajos Tihanyi’s Oeuvre. Also on January 17, writer and art historian Rita Halász leads a subjective tour, Embroidered in Concrete. Budapest.
Make, Paint, Play
January 17’s Create! – Abstract Experience Painting opens the floor to imagination with the games of color and form. After a gallery walk with works by Sean Scully, Judit Reigl, and Simon Hantaï, participants paint their own striking abstracts. On January 21, Mental Fitness – New Year, New Style spotlights artists who shifted gears mid-career. From János Vaszary and József Rippl-Rónai to Aurél Bernáth, you’ll see how one painter’s canvases can look worlds apart across periods. After the tour, the workshop riffs on one of Rippl-Rónai’s styles. Budapest.
Nudes and New Perspectives
On January 18, a guided tour of the renewed exhibition on fin-de-siècle nude sculpture traces one of art’s oldest themes: the human body. Presentation evolves with its era, and this show reveals how ideals of beauty reshaped the form from the 19th to the 20th century. Budapest.
Online Access and Kids’ Adventures
Can’t make it in person? On January 22, join an online guided tour of the Tihanyi exhibition from home, timed with the Day of Hungarian Culture. And on January 24, Adventure in the Gallery – Curious Faces offers age-tailored tours: 6–9-year-olds at 10:30–11:15, and 10–13-year-olds at 11:30–12:15. Budapest.
