The Hungarian National Gallery, the country’s largest public collection dedicated to the birth and evolution of Hungarian fine art, rolls into late fall and early winter with a packed calendar. Expect permanent and temporary exhibitions, guided tours in multiple languages, themed programs, family days, festivals, concerts, creative workshops for kids, art education sessions, and even summer camps for the little ones. Here’s what’s on in Budapest across November and early December 2025.
For the Very Young: Tipegők
2025.11.04. Tipegők – Little Ladies and Gentlemen
A playful trip into the world of elegant homes and salons. Peek into how little ladies and young gentlemen once lived, dressed, and spent their days.
Location: Budapest
2025.11.18. Tipegők – Little Ladies and Gentlemen
A second date for the same charming theme of historic domestic elegance and etiquette for tiny visitors.
Location: Budapest
2025.12.02. Tipegők – Falling Stars
A quiet winter afternoon following a dazzling celestial guide into the world of centuries-old altarpieces. Listen for angels’ songs, imagine a walk in a snowy landscape, explore the magic of white paint, then make festive art after the gallery adventure.
Location: Budapest
Kids’ Creative Workshops
2025.11.05., 11.12., 11.19., 11.26. Color It Anew! – Museum Workshop for Children
Theater takes over the Gallery! Step into artworks and try on roles. Write and perform stories while crafting masks, puppets, headdresses, and even designing a stage set. Be kings, queens, farmhands, or gooseherd girls—remember, it’s all play.
Location: Budapest
Mind and Mood
2025.11.05. Mental Fitness – The Beauty of Everyday Life
Through Adolf Fényes’s paintings, the gentle rhythm of days long past comes into focus—sunlit courtyards, quiet interiors, markets, village houses, churches. Expect memories, associations, lively talk, and light mental challenges. Explore the commemorative exhibition A csend képei (Pictures of Tranquillity) and related works in the permanent collection, then create in the workshop after a gallery walk.
Location: Budapest
2025.12.10. Mental Fitness – Christmas Wonder
An Advent program to sink into the serene, festive world of paintings and altars. Shared contemplation guided by artworks and a warm holiday spirit.
Location: Budapest
Dance, Languages, and Style
2025.11.07. EX-POSE(S) | Dance Performance
Where body, movement, and fine art meet—contemporary dance in conversation with visual art across the Gallery’s spaces.
Location: Budapest
2025.11.07. Visita guidata in italiano
A guided tour in Italian across major Hungarian masterpieces from the Middle Ages to today, with a special look at the 19th and 20th centuries. You might even spot Dante among the canvases.
Location: Budapest
2025.11.08. Always in Flux – Fashion History in Paintings
From Baroque splendor to cool Classicism, trace changing fashion codes. How did women go from heavy updos to short hair? A lively spin through centuries of costume via paintings, presented as part of the Autumn Festival of Museums.
Location: Budapest
Adolf Fényes Takes the Spotlight
The Gallery marks 80 years since the death of Adolf Fényes (1867–1945), co-founder of the Szolnok artists’ colony, with A csend képei (Pictures of Tranquillity). Surrounding programs dive deep:
2025.11.08. Create! – From Canvas to Canvas
After visiting the Fényes exhibition, paint unique aprons inspired by his colors and motifs—bringing the artist’s world to life in wearable form.
Location: Budapest
2025.11.13. Look, Mom! – Sunlit Everyday Life (Hungarian)
Walk through Fényes’s sun-washed interiors and markets, where simple moments glow as brightly as grand history scenes. How does a peasant courtyard live in the shadow of French Impressionism? What connects a Szolnok veranda to Paris? What do these century-old genre scenes say about daily joys and sorrows?
Location: Budapest
2025.11.15. Adolf Fényes and the Szolnok Artists’ Colony
A guided tour through the Fényes memorial show and related works in the permanent collection.
Location: Budapest
2025.11.20. Look at that, Mom! – Sunny Days (English)
An English-language guided tour introducing Pictures of Tranquillity alongside selected works from the permanent galleries.
Location: Budapest
2025.11.27. Look, Mom! – Sunlit Everyday Life (Hungarian)
A second date to rediscover Fényes’s intimate interiors, landscapes, and market scenes—and the timeless pull of quiet moments.
Location: Budapest
2025.11.29. The Last Painter of Beauty: Adolf Fényes | Lecture by art historian Gábor Bellák
A magnifying-glass look at stories, connections, and curios the galleries can’t easily show—context and surprises that enrich the exhibition experience.
Location: Budapest
Faces, Groups, and Gallery Adventures
2025.11.09. The Great Mustache Panorama
Twirled, curled, or outlaw-bold—facial hair signals order, masculinity, rebellion. A tour where history, fashion, and mustachioed (or bearded) men take center stage.
Location: Budapest
2025.11.15. Adventure in the Gallery – St. Martin’s Day Fun
10:30–11:15 Guided tour for ages 6–9
11:30–12:15 Guided tour for ages 10–13
Location: Budapest
2025.11.22. The Nyolcak – Scheduled Guided Tour
Alongside a Lajos Tihanyi retrospective, meet the Nyolcak (The Eight), briefly active from 1909 to 1912. Their three exhibitions jolted Hungary’s cultural and art scene like a mini scientific-technological revolution.
Location: Budapest
Behind the Scenes: Crypt to Dome
2025.11.23. Explore the Gallery – From the Crypt to the Dome (English)
A building tour of the former Royal Palace of Buda and its treasures, from the Habsburg Palatine Crypt to the stunning dome view.
Location: Budapest
2025.11.30. Building Walk – From the Crypt to the Dome (Hungarian)
A Hungarian-language deep dive into the National Gallery’s home: crypt, dome, and other architectural gems with sweeping panoramas.
Location: Budapest
Gilded Holidays
2025.12.04. Look, Mom! – Maternal Parallels
In a Christmas mood, trace the most-depicted mother and child—Mary and Jesus—across panel paintings and sculptures, from medieval to modern and contemporary art.
Location: Budapest
2025.12.06. Create! – Golden Holiday
On St. Nicholas Day, bask in Gothic altarpieces and the history of gilding, then decorate small table linens with gold paint using altar-inspired motifs—perfect shimmering accents for a festive table.
Location: Budapest
