While most of his contemporaries aligned themselves with one of the advanced stylistic trends of the age, he satisfied his nostalgia with the creation of a dream world of his own, which he populated with real and fabulous beings. The beauty of the land in Italy, the cities imbued with the spirit of the Renaissance, captured his sensible soul, and this was where he took refuge from the ever more pressing social and political issues of his time. While the influence of various styles can be detected in his work, from the pre-Raphaelites through Art Nouveau to symbolism, he employed them in an individual manner as he built his own visual universe.
This is what keeps Lajos Gulácsy’s painting in the public eye. His works are the treasures of museums and private collections, critics consider his lifework to be among the five most important Hungarian painterly oeuvres. In this light, it seems incredible that the last large-scale display of Gulácsy’s works was organized more than four decades ago.
With 80 paintings and 60 graphics selected from public and private collections, the Kovács Gábor Art Foundation stages the most important Gulácsy retrospective to date, offering a representative overview of this celebrated oeuvre.