City, waterfront and culture – Modern art in the countryside

After a walk along the banks of the Danube or a delicious ice cream in Szentedre’s main square, there is nothing left to do but recharge our batteries in the triad of art, progress and tradition. These are the pillars of the spirit of the Ferenczy Museum Centre, where you can immerse yourself in the most diverse forms of art. The institution has a rich collection. You can learn about all forms of fine art, from contemporary painting, graphics, sculpture and even medals.

The city museum, named after the painter Károly Ferenczy, was opened in 1951 in the building of the former Greek Orthodox Serbian school. Currently it is the venue for temporary exhibitions: both twentieth-century and contemporary, Szentendre-related and international exhibitions can be visited within its walls. One of their latest exhibitions, recently opened, is entitled THE COLLECTION (1900–2022), where you can see works by some of today’s most prominent contemporary artists and the most influential artists of the 20th century from Szentendre. The latter include Jenő Barcsay, Endre Bálint, Béla Czóbel, Pál Deim, Dezső Korniss, János Kmetty, Lajos Vajda and the Ferenczy dynasty: Károly, Noémi and Béni.

It is also worth looking around the other parts of the building, for example the ISBN book gallery: art lovers can add new art books to their home library.

Debrecen is also an important cultural hub. This can also be felt in the MODEM Modern and Contemporary Art Centre in the historic city centre, which is considered a leading art institution not only in Hungary, but also in the Central European region.

MODEM opened its doors in autumn 2006. Since then, it has been home to works by André Kertész, Pablo Picasso and Leonardo da Vinci. The art centre also pays special attention to the presentation of modern and contemporary Hungarian fine art, including also the exhibition of the life’s work of Vilmos Aba-Novák and the world-famous Judit Reigl.

In the 2023 season, the exhibition titled Re:Re (Artistic Re-enactment, the Art of Re-enactment) will focus on artists from Central and Eastern Europe, highlighting the importance of international regional discourses. Among the multimedia and installation works on show are artists who have previously represented their country at the Venice Biennale, including Jeremy Deller, Zbigniew Libera, Ingela Johansson, Irina Botea Bucan, Little Warsaw and Takahiro Iwasaki.

There is plenty to do on the lake, but don’t miss the cultural districts of the coastal towns either. For example, the Vaszary Gallery, renovated in 2010, is one of the jewels of Balatonfüred: the former Primate’s summer house is unique in that its rooms have been converted into exhibition spaces, which have been home to works by Pablo Picasso, Joan Miró, Robert Capa and Amrita Sérgil, among others.

This year we can take a closer look at the works of the artists of the Balatonboglár chapel, among others. The history of the Chapel Workshop dates back fifty years: during the four years of its operation, the art space has presented the work of around two hundred artists, including some of the most important figures of the Hungarian neo-avant-garde. The Boglár 50 will be followed by an exhibition of Dóra Maurer, a world-renowned exponent of geometric abstraction and systematic painting. In the spring of 2023, the Vaszary Gallery was expanded with a new exhibition space: the new Modern Art Gallery (MoMü) was furnished with pieces from the thousands of pieces of the art collection of András Szöllősi-Nagy and Judit Nemes, which they built in Paris.

If that is not enough, after a cultural refreshment you can relax at the foot of the villa’s emblematic tower, from where you can enjoy the panoramic view of Lake Balaton from the terrace of the Vaszary Café.