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Budapest Museums

El Greco Exhibition At Museum Of Fine Arts Budapest

El Greco

Museum of Fine Arts, Budapest.

Until 19 February 2023

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Supported by CIB Bank and MVM

For the first time, the Hungarian public can see a comprehensive exhibition of El Greco’s oeuvre in Budapest. On show at the Museum of Fine Arts from 28 October, the exhibition aims to provide a broad overview of the oeuvre of El Greco, or Domenikos Theotokopoulos (1541-1614), one of the most outstanding masters in the history of European art, showing the painter’s full formal complexity and his great stylistic development.

 

The exhibition, which includes some seventy works in all, will showcase more than half a hundred works by the Spanish-Cretan master.

 

Another outstanding masterpiece is added to the permanent exhibition of the Museum of Fine Arts: the permanent exhibition of the Museum of Fine Arts has been enriched with a unique masterpiece by El Greco with a Hungarian connection. Portrait of Saint Aloysius Gonzaga has been added to the museum.

 

Purchased at Christie’s auction house in June this year for $3.6 million, the masterpiece is an internationally outstanding addition to the museum’s Spanish collection, which now includes six El Greco works by the artist himself.

 

The painting, which will remain in the museum as a long-term deposit, belonged to the renowned art collector Marcell Nemes for several years in the early 20th century, but was sold at an auction in Paris in 1913, and thanks to the current purchase, the work will return to Hungary after more than a century.

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28 October 2022 - 19 February 2023

Monday: closed
Tuesday to Sunday: 10.00–18.00
Ticket office and admission: until 17.00
Closing of exhibitions starts at 17.30

Ground floor

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Tickets

From HUF 4,400

Museum's website

Museum of Fine Arts, Budapest

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Highlights

Portrait of Saint Aloysius Gonzaga
Born into an aristocratic family in Italy, Alajos Gonzaga (1568-1591) lived in Spain as a young man and committed himself to the Church at an early age. El Greco could have painted this portrait of him when the young man, who was also a member of the Spanish court, visited the Franciscan Order's General Assembly in Toledo. The painting appeared in several private collections in the 20th century, including that of Marcelle Nemes.
Laocoön
Unique in El Greco's oeuvre, this work deals with a famous theme from Greek mythology, the death of the Trojan priest Laocoon and his two sons. According to legend, Laocoon warned the Trojans against the huge wooden horse left by the Greeks outside the city gates. But his warning fell on deaf ears, and as revenge of the gods, two snakes crawled out of the sea and killed the two sons and then their father. In the painting, the painter places the story in Toledo instead of Troy, the city he immortalised in several expressive and personal depictions at the end of his life.
El Greco Agony in the Garden
In his religious compositions and portraits El Greco frequently repeated themes from his major works, with slight alterations, to meet different commissions. He broke away from the Renaissance tradition and ceased to depict reality and nature. In order to convey mystic emotions and to imbue his work with passion he distorted and elongated the forms and used stridently blazing colours to express the transcendental. The Agony in the Garden is such mystic interpretation representative of El Greco's late years and mature style.
Penitent Mary Magdalene
A former harlot, Magdalene turned to Jesus’s most devoted believer. Following Titian, Greco condensed her story into the single moment of ecstasy: the moment when she, meditating in the wilderness on death and immortality, converts. But while for Titian her passionate revelation is accompanied by erotic overtones, here the blinding beam of light seems to purify her, almost uplifting her from the bonds of corporeality. The skull, which refers to earthly mortality, has rolled out of her hand, and behind her ivy, symbol of eternal life, stretches heavenwards. The dawn landscape, bathed in cold moonlit pale tones, is a delicate echo of the emanating experience of spiritual catharsis.
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Guided Tour

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Tours

Guided Tour: El Greco

Museum of Fine Art’s tour guides present a unique selection of El Greco’s most celebrated works and guarantee you an intimate and educational visit!

Find out more

Ticket information

How to book + -

  • The ticket also includes admission to the permanent exhibitions open on that day.
  • Tickets can be purchased online, in advance or at the box office on site. Reservations are not possible.
  • Hourly times refer to the expected time of entry during the hour and do not limit the duration of the visit.

Ticket prices + -

  • Full price ticket: HUF 4,400
  • 50% discount ticket: HUF 2,200
    - over 6 and under 26 years of age,
    - over 62 and under 70 years of age,
    - one or two adults accompanying two or more family members under 18 years of age
    - only for citizens of the European Economic Area and of Ukraine (as temporary support)
  • Audio Guide (in English): HUF 1,100
  • Guided tour for groups: HUF 20,000
    - in English and other foreign languages, for max. 17 persons
    - Advanced booking is required

Opening hours + -

Monday: closed
Tuesday to Sunday: all exhibitions open from 10.00
Ticket office and admission: until 17.00
Closing of exhibitions starts at 17.30

Museum Shop: 10.00–17.45
Fine Art Café: 10.00–17.30 (only with admission ticket)

 

During bank holidays

24-25 December  – CLOSED
26-30 December  – OPEN as usually
31 December  – OPEN 10.00-16.00
(admission and ticket office until 15.00)
1 January – OPEN 12.00-18.00

Friends of the Museum + -

Through their donations, Members contribute to the preservation and enrichment of the superb collections of the Museum of Fine Arts. In return, as part of the benefits offered by the Friends of the Museum, you may become a member of an exclusive group who enjoy participating in various art programmes, performances, and guided tours, travelling in Hungary and abroad  with an expert guide. The generosity and commitment of Friends contribute to the recognition of one of the most important cultural brands in Hungary. More about membership categories and benefits.

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