"The messiahs bring us together to the centre of European traditions," said Aneta Szylak, director of the Wyspa Museum in Gdansk, at the opening of the exhibition."It is important that we remember that the idea of messianism is not only a Christian one, but extends to the Jewish and Islamic faiths too."
The exhibition at MODEM, called Messiahs - Western man and the idea of redemption in modern and contemporary visual art, shows more than 200 works by some 120 artists, said museum director Gábor Gulyás. Works, not artists, were picked for the show, he added.
Messiahs
gives visitors the chance to reflect on change, messianism, the sacred and the profane in contemporary western culture, Gulyás said. The exhibition does not aim to be religious, although its context is religious. At the same time, it is not intended to be atheistic, he added.
"There are no really provocative works [in the exhibition]. Even though provocation is an important tool of the artist...to unloose us from the every-day and make us face questions we normally would not ask ourselves...it would be inappropriate to offend the religious sensitivity of anybody," Gulyás said.
Among the highlights of the exhibition are works by Picasso, Chagall, Warhol, Dali and Munch, as well as the Hungarian masters Munkácsy, Csontváry and Gulácsy. Georges Rouault's Crucifixion (1939) can be seen in Hungary for the first time, together with Odilon Redon's Christ on the Cross (1910), a triptych by Francis Bacon and a four-metre sculpture of György Dózsa by Tibor Szervátiusz. As well as oil paintings and sculptures, there are videos, graphic works, installations and photographs on display.
The works are on loan from collectors as well as more than 50 museums, including the Musée D'Orsay in Paris, Moscow's Tretyakov Gallery and the Belvedere in Vienna.
The exhibition has received HUF 150 million in media and sponsor support, but it must generate another HUF 96 million, which translates as 80,000 visitors, to break even, said Guylás.
The exhibition is open until December 31. It is not recommended for children under the age of twelve because of the "radical" nature of some of the works.
Author: Eszter Szász / Photo: MTI
