Belgian Presidency of the Council of the European Union

©KIESELBACH

©KIESELBACH

©KIESELBACH

©KIESELBACH

To mark the upcoming Hungarian Presidency of the Council of the EU, an exhibition will be held at the Brussels City Hall entitled DIALOGUE BETWEEN FAUVES -HUGARIAN FAUVISM (1904-1914).

At the start of the 20th century, young Hungarian artists were captivated by Paris. Several of them spent a winter there studying and developing their identities as artists. Under the influence of painters such as Henri Matisse and the contact with new movements in painting such as fauvism, their unique personalities were forged. They assimilated the use of large expanses of intense colour, combined with the traditional Hungarian naturalism which sought to reproduce reality as objectively as possible.

The exhibition documents the fascinating rise of Hungarian fauvism between 1904 and 1914, through over 50 works from major museums and art collections. It offers a unique opportunity for the public to discover the powerful, highly original work of this generation of Hungarian artists which revolutionised the art of their country and moreover, had a broad impact on avant-garde movements throughout Europe.

Although strongly influenced by French fauvism, Hungarian fauvism is not mere imitation. On the contrary, this movement is defined by artists with unique and individual personalities who bring a resolutely modern vision to painting.

The exhibition includes work by Róbert BERÉNY, Géza BORNEMISZA, Tibor BOROMISZA, Béla CZÓBEL, Valéria DÉNES, Sándor GALIMBERTI, Vilmos HUSZÁR, Béla IVÁNYI GRÜNWALD, Ödön MÁRFFY, Vilmos PERLROTT CSABA, József RIPPL-RÓNAI, Lajos TIHANYI and Sándor ZIFFER.
 

Inspired by the cultural context in Hungary, these works reveal an outpouring of light in a pallette that is at once muted and exhuberant, reflecting the artists’ Slavic soul.

Mounted within the context of the Trio Presidency of the Council of the European Union, this exhibition is organised by the Cultural Service of the city of Brussels in collaboration with the Cultural Service of the Embassy of the Republic of Hungary - Hungarian Culture Brussels, in partnership with Wallonie-Bruxelles International in the framework of its cooperation with Hungary.