In recent years, the collection’s focal points – contemporary Hungarian artists, Hungarian artists who came to fruition in Parisian exile in the second half of the 20th century, and painters of Roma origin – have been made accessible through renewed selections and exhibitions organised from the collection.

Within the contemporary Hungarian terrain, the selection on display in the non-profit section of the Budapest Contemporary fair in autumn 2024 illustrated the opening of the collection. For the fourth time, Dezső Váli was the cornerstone, but this time in dialogue with young artists. Váli has numerous works in the collection, and three exhibitions had already been held featuring these. In 2022, a selection covering all periods of his oeuvre was on display at Kálmán Makláry’s gallery.[1] A version of this was then shown at the Liszt Institute in Stuttgart in 2023, and in 2024, a Váli exhibition from the collection was created at the Vastuskós House in Győr.[2]

The fourth exhibition in autumn 2024 marked the opening of the collection to young artists.[3] Péter Horn recently acquired works by György Király, Róbert Lak and Botond Kuti. The stylistic affinity between Váli and Király’s paintings is particularly close, with silence as their common denominator. How is it possible to evoke not only the silence of the physical environment but also a mystical, inner silence with the help of just a few objects – studio props or dishes placed on a table?

Lak and Kuti’s paintings also draw on dynamics. The amorphous, organic colour flows convey a sense of timelessness, but also a fresh turbulence and tension. Their inspiration cannot be identified as an object, but rather as a vision, a collision of forces, a waterfall of colours flowing into each other. This is a world beyond reality, surreal.

In the case of these two young artists, this is also a point of connection with Váli, especially his early, surrealist-inspired period, as well as the early works of other artists in the collection. The legacy of surrealism was decisive for Judit Reigl, who moved on from this to image creation based on free gesture. Reigl is also represented by a large number of paintings in Péter Horn’s collection. Alongside the foundation managing the artist’s estate and Kálmán Makláry’s private collection, this material is one of the largest selections of Reigl’s work in a single collection in international comparison.

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