The Hungarian National Gallery, the country’s largest public collection tracing the birth and evolution of Hungarian fine art, is leaning into February with a packed slate of exhibitions, guided tours in multiple languages, hands-on workshops for kids, and music-filled nights. Permanent and temporary shows anchor the program, while families get festivals, concerts, creative clubs, art education sessions, and summer camps down the line. It’s an open invitation to roam the galleries—or log in from home—and dive deep into the artists who shaped the nation’s visual culture.
Stream It From Home
Kicking off on February 10, an online guided tour opens the door to The Images of Silence. Adolf Fényes (1867–1945) [A csend képei. Fényes Adolf (1867–1945)], a focused memorial exhibition unpacking the painter’s quiet power. Viewers can explore from their sofa and learn what made Fényes’s scenes resonate, with curators drawing lines between the chamber show and related works in the permanent collection.
Toddlers Take Venice
Also on February 10, Toddlers – Venetian Carnival (Tipegők – Velencei Karnevál) whisks the youngest visitors to the mask-filled magic of Venice. Think elegant balls, joyful parades, carousel rides, dancing, role-play, and, of course, crafting a gloriously decorated carnival mask to take home. It’s pure make-believe in miniature, in the middle of Budapest.
Lajos Tihanyi, Reframed
February 11 and 12 spotlight Lajos Tihanyi, the deaf painter who, as the program beautifully puts it, “created color and form out of silence.” Without academic training, he forged a striking visual language that made him a singular voice among The Eight and one of the 20th century’s most original Hungarian artists. Rebellious Forms, Bold Colors – The Art of Lajos Tihanyi features guided tours in Hungarian and English, with a special exhibition celebrating the 140th anniversary of his birth through key paintings, graphics, and personal objects. On February 13, the English-language tour returns; later, a musical guided evening with Ádám Bősze and Gábor Bellák syncs Budapest, Berlin, Paris, and the pulsing first decades of the 20th century to Tihanyi’s canvases.
Color Your World: Kids’ Workshops
How did people live long ago? What do paintings whisper about the past? Multiple dates—February 11, 18, and 25—hand kids the tools to find out. Paintings, genre scenes, portraits, and old photos become portals to everyday life: what people used, wore, played, and dreamed. Young artists draw, paint, storyboard comics, and invent their own tales, inspired by what they see.
The Beauty of the Body
Look at that, Mom! – The Beauty of the Human Body (Mama, nézd! – A test szépsége) runs February 12, 19, and 26, providing guided tours through the renewed turn-of-the-century Nude Sculptures exhibition. The nude—an art theme as old as art itself—changes with the ideals of each era, and here the sculptures trace those shifting visions with style and sensitivity.
Love Stories in the Galleries
Valentine’s Day turns the museum into a crossroads of muses, lovers, and artists’ wives with Love Is in the Air. Expect the greatest and most tragic love stories told through paintings and sculptures. A Hungarian-language tour, The Most Beautiful Hungarian Love Paintings (A legszebb magyar szerelmes festmények), pursues artists and muses across passionate, blissful, turbulent, and tragic romances—through works by Pál Szinyei Merse (Szinyei Merse Pál), János Vaszary (Vaszary János), and Róbert Berény (Berény Róbert). Art historian Gergely Barki adds a bonus lecture that same day: Two or None. Doubles and Gaps in the Oeuvre of Lajos Tihanyi (Kettő vagy egy sem. Duplázások és hiátusok Tihanyi Lajos életművében), an insider’s map to doubles and gaps in Tihanyi’s oeuvre.
Curators, Kids, Italians
Italian speakers get their own Guided Tour in Italian (Visita guidata in italiano) on February 13, a sweep through Hungarian masterpieces from the Middle Ages to today—heavy on the 19th and 20th centuries—where Dante just might make an appearance among the frames. On February 15, curator Ágnes Horváth leads a deep dive into the art of Adolf Fényes, while February 21 brings Adventure in the Gallery – Carnival Transformations (Kaland a Galériában – Farsangi átváltozás), two age-tailored guided tours for kids: 10:30–11:15 for ages 6–9 and 11:30–12:15 for ages 10–13.
From Nursery to Night School
Preschoolers in the Gallery – How Colorful! (Ovisok a Galériában – Milyen színes!) on February 24 helps preschoolers decode how painters worked and what paintings and sculptures reveal. After playful gallery games, kids create in the studio, turning fresh discoveries into art. On February 25, Mental Fitness – A Sculpture Comes to Life (Szellemi fitnesz – Életre kelt szobor) asks if a sculpture can come to life—or steal a heart. This edition blends nudes, love, and mythology with a gallery walk spanning the permanent displays and the refreshed turn-of-the-century nude sculptures, followed by a studio session.
Guided Finales and What’s Next
February 28 circles back to Fényes with The Taste of Sunshine (A napfény íze), a curator-led tour by art historian Edit Plesznivy. Emblematic masterpieces anchor a full-arc view of the painter’s life, touching on family background, training years, patrons and professional supporters, and classical sources. Meanwhile, the season’s broader offerings ripple through spring: Breathing Light (Lélegző fény), a look at spiritualism, theosophy, and Buddhism in Hungary at the turn of the 19th–20th centuries (through March 1); the Adolf Fényes memorial exhibition (through March 15); Endre Tót: Night Visit to the Museum (Tót Endre: Éjszakai látogatás a múzeumban); TIHANYI 140 (through February 15); family tours, Valentine’s workshops for garden lovers, lectures on occult sciences, authentic Japanese tea ceremonies, and the Ume plum blossom celebration. The Breathing Light show signs off with a finissage on February 28, while the broader Castle District programs stretch all year, from January 1 to December 31. In short: February in Budapest belongs to art—and everyone’s invited.
