Are you visiting Budapest in autumn? From Salvador Dali to Hungarian fashion designer Tamás Király, the guided tours and exhibitions below in Budapest’s famous museums offer something for every taste and interest during the fall season.
Fine Arts
The Surrealist Movement from Dalí to Magritte – Crisis and Rebirth in 1929
This large-scale Budapest exhibition of surrealist art organized at the Hungarian National Gallery features the works of Salvador Dalí, Max Ernst, Joan Miró, Yves Tanguy, René Magritte, Pablo Picasso, Francis Picabia, and Jacques André Bouffard. It focuses on 1929 when Dali first appeared on the Parisian art scene and took the leading role among surrealist artists. Images by Man Ray and Brassaï represent surrealist photography. Free guided tours of the exhibition are also offered in English.
Where: Magyar Nemzeti Galéria, 1014 Budapest, Szent György tér 2
More information: en.mng.hu
Contemporary Arts
Tamás Király. Out of the Box
The exhibition aims at giving a comprehensive picture of Tamás Király’s work, a Hungarian artist, fashion designer and emblematic figure of the Hungarian underground scene in the 1980s and 1990s. He was the only Eastern European designer to exhibit along with Claudia Skoda, Vivienne Westwood, and Jean-Paul Gaultier. The artist, who was much more acclaimed internationally than in his own country, died tragically in 2013. His visionary creations were well ahead of his time.
Where: Ludwig Museum, 1095 Budapest, Komor Marcell u. 1
More information: www.ludwigmuseum.hu
Westkunst – Ostkunst. A Selection from the Collection
Selected artworks of the Budapest Ludwig Museum’s own collection are put on display with the aim of examining the artistic and cultural differences as well as similarities between Western and Eastern art. The exhibition includes American and Western European pop art, photorealism, neo-expressionist paintings of the German Die Neue Wilden, and the artwork of former socialist countries.
Where: Ludwig Museum, 1095 Budapest, Komor Marcell u. 1
Pattern and Decoration
Pattern and Decoration is an American art movement that started in the 1970s with the aim of making art more feminine and reviving an interest in patterning which was considered a trivial art form at that time. The artists of P&D were influenced by motives of Islamic tile work, Mexican and Byzantine mosaics, and often mimicked patterns of wallpaper printed fabrics and quilts resulting in works that express fantasy, lust for life, and color. This Budapest autumn exhibition includes the works of the movement’s founders Joyce Kozloff, Valerie Jaudon, Robert Kushner, and Miriam Schapiro.
Where: Ludwig Museum, 1095 Budapest, Komor Marcell u. 1
History
Sisi and Her Beloved Hungary
The Budapest Castle Garden Bazaar awaits visitors with the English language guided tour that focuses on Sisi, the beautiful Empress of Austria and Queen of Hungary who was famous for her affection towards the Hungarians and used to spend long weeks at the garden during her visits to Budapest. The tour starts at the Miklós Ybl statue across the main entrance and will take you through the Castle Garden Bazaar from the Palace of the Guards through the stunning neo-Renaissance garden to the southern palaces.
Where: Várkertbazár, 1013 Budapest, Ybl Miklós tér 2-6.
When: Wednesday till Sunday at 2 PM until 29th September
More information: varkertbazar.hu/en
Frida’s Country – Guillermo Kahlo’s Photographs of Mexico
Mexican photographer Guillermo Kahlo, father of the world-famous painter, Frida Kahlo, immigrated to Mexico from Germany in 1890. Although he took many portraits of his daughter, the exhibition focuses mainly on his photographs of his chosen country, Mexico. Kahlo’s images document the country’s diverse cultural and architectural heritage. Through the pictures he took in more than 40 years, Kahlo shows us the churches and monasteries of Mexico’s historical past as well as the transformation of Mexico City into a dynamic metropolis at the beginning of the 20th century.
Where: Műcsarnok (Kunsthalle), 1146 Budapest, Dózsa György út 37.
When: 10 AM – 6 PM daily, 12 AM – 8 PM on THURS, closed on MON until September 22
More information: www.mucsarnok.hu
Family Exhibitions
Minipolisz – Interactive Exhibition for Children
MiniPolisz is a colorful kid-size city where children between the ages of 3-12 get to experience what it’s like to be an adult. They can be hairdressers in a beauty shop, shop assistants at a grocery store, or doctors at dentistry. The mini-metropolis is built on 1000 m2, allowing children to play and learn about the skills of everyday life in about 30 playing areas including an animal farm, a fire station, a mini-hotel, and a post office. It’s a wonderful program for the whole family.
Where: 1061 Budapest, Király utca 8-10. (Central Passage) 1st floor
When: Monday-Sunday 10 AM-7 PM
More information: minipolisz.hu/en
Chocolate Museum Exhibition
The Chocolate Museum offers guided tours all year long in which visitors learn about chocolate manufacturing as they examine famous labels and chocolate-making tools. They get to see 19th-century shop windows of praline stores, try and taste a chocolate fountain, make their own chocolate, then sit down at a film museum with a glass of delicious hot chocolate in hand to watch a short movie about the history of chocolate. The Princely Deluxe tour also includes a visit to the Rákóczi Knight hall where visitors are served warm cakes, chocolate, and tea specialties. The museum only takes scheduled visits so make sure to call in if you wish to go on a guided tour in English!
Where: 1162 Budapest, Bekecs u.22.
When: at scheduled times
More information: www.csokolade-muzeum.hu
