The Hungarian National Gallery is the country’s largest public collection tracing the birth and evolution of Hungarian visual art. Inside its grand halls, visitors move between permanent and temporary exhibitions, curator-led tours in multiple languages, themed programs, family days, festivals, and concerts. Kids get their own creative workshops, art education sessions, and summer camps, turning the museum into a lively hub rather than a hush-only zone.
Toddlers, Snowflakes, and Storytime
January warms up for the tiniest art lovers with Toddlers – Snowflake Dance. Pull on the softest gloves and the warmest snow boots for a magical winter quest through the Gallery: discover how the forest puts on its white coat and what colors hide in the snow. Sing, tell stories, and dance with the snowflakes. Sessions run January 13 and January 27 in Budapest, designed to delight early walkers and their grown-ups with sensory-rich play across art and nature.
Kids Become Detectives
The Recolor It! museum workshop invites children on January 14, 21, and 28 to crack mysteries drifting through the Gallery’s rooms. Armed with curious eyes, the best little detectives chase the secrets of painter Lajos Tihanyi. They scrutinize dozens of his works, hunt for hidden details, and piece together a puzzle. Creativity stays center stage: kids “forge” paintings as part of the investigation, craft composite portraits, and experiment with photo manipulation. It’s hands-on art history with a twist of sleuthing, in Budapest.
“Mama, Look!” Silence Speaks
On January 15 and 29, “Mama, Look! – The Silence Speaks” turns to one of the most original figures of the Hungarian avant-garde, Lajos Tihanyi. Deaf and mute from childhood illness, Tihanyi transformed a perceived disadvantage into a powerful advantage, forging a one-of-a-kind visual language. The program explores how silence shaped the artist’s inner voice and how he used color and form to communicate beyond sound, right in Budapest.
Tihanyi 140: Curators and Historians Take You Inside
Tihanyi’s 140th anniversary is the Gallery’s headline. On January 15, curator Mariann Gergely leads a tour through a remarkable story: until the 1970s, Tihanyi’s art was mostly known in Hungary through black-and-white reproductions. Fifty-five years ago, his estate made a dramatic journey from Paris into the National Gallery’s collection. On January 16, art historian Gergely Barki offers an unconventional walk-through of the Tihanyi 140 exhibition, then returns January 24 with a lecture, “Two or None: Doublings and Hiatuses in Lajos Tihanyi’s Oeuvre,” digging into repetitions, gaps, and the rhythm of a life’s work.
Rebel Forms, Bold Colors
From January 17 onward, multiple guided tours anchor the exhibition “Rebel Forms, Bold Colors – The Art of Lajos Tihanyi,” marking his 140th. Born in 1885 and losing his hearing as a child, Tihanyi made a world out of quiet: he conjured color from silence and invented a singular voice in paint. Without academic training, he developed an extraordinary visual language that made him a linchpin of the Nyolcak (The Eight) and one of 20th-century Hungarian painting’s most distinctive figures. Tours run on January 17, 18, 23, 25 (with sign-language interpretation), 29, and 31 in Budapest, each opening the door to his fiercest canvases, incisive graphics, and intimate personal objects.
Italian-Language Highlights
On January 16, an Italian-language guided tour sweeps visitors through Hungary’s greatest hits, from medieval treasures to the modern day, with a special spotlight on the 19th and 20th centuries. Who knows—Dante might peek out from a frame along the way. It’s a welcoming way to see the canon without needing Hungarian.
Abstract Art, Up Close and Personal
The January 17 “Create! – Abstract Experience Painting” session celebrates the freedom of abstraction. Sometimes it’s geometric, other times a rush of loose brushstrokes—always a playground for imagination. Participants meet pivotal figures like Sean Scully, Judit Reigl, and Simon Hantaï, then paint their own bold abstractions after a gallery walk. Also on January 17, writer and art historian Rita Halász offers a subjective tour, “Embroidered in Concrete,” stitching together personal insight and art history in the exhibition space.
Nudes at the Turn of the Century
On January 18, “Nude Sculptures from the Turn of the Century” revisits one of art’s oldest subjects: the human body. The nude travels through art history, morphing with each era’s ideals. This guided tour steps into the renewed 19th–20th-century nude sculpture display, updating the classic theme with fresh context.
New Year, New Style
“Mind Fitness – New Year, New Style” on January 21 explores how artists reinvent themselves. Some, like János Vaszary, József Rippl-Rónai, and Aurél Bernáth, worked in multiple styles—sometimes so different you’d never guess they came from the same hand. After a gallery walk, participants head to the workshop to create, trying on one of Rippl-Rónai’s stylistic hats and making it their own.
See It From Home
On January 22, the Tihanyi exhibition goes digital with an online guided tour for the Day of Hungarian Culture. If you can’t make it to Budapest, this one brings the colors, concepts, and backstory to your screen—no coat check required.
Kids’ Face Time With Art
“Adventure at the Gallery – Unusual Faces” on January 24 splits into two guided tours: 10:30–11:15 for ages 6–9, and 11:30–12:15 for ages 10–13. It’s a fast-paced introduction that trains young eyes to read expressions and character in portraits and beyond, building confidence to talk about art out loud.
In Budapest this January, the Hungarian National Gallery turns looking into doing. Whether you’re a toddler dancing with snowflakes, a kid cracking codes in Tihanyi’s canvases, or an adult chasing the next style shift, the month is stacked with ways to see, learn, and make.
