The exhibition, dubbed Best of Mű-Terem, will open at 11:00 on Saturday and run until April 28.
Among the paintings are ones by Mihály Munkácsy, Lajos Gulácsy, Tivadar Kosztka Csontváry and János Vaszary, many of which have fetched record prices for works by Hungarian artists.
Most of the owners of the paintings were happy to lend the works when asked by gallery owner Judit Virág. But a few of the owners of the gallery's biggest auction successes, such as Munkácsy's The Baby's Visitors, declined. Regardless, the owner of another Munkácsy painting, Dusty Road I, has agreed to lend the picture for the exhibition. The painting sold for HUF 220 million in 2003, setting a record which stood for three years until it was broken by the sale of Csontváry's Encounter of Lovers by the Kieselbach Gallery for HUF 230 million at the end of 2006.
The Hungarian actor and director Róbert Alföldi will lead a tour of the exhibition at a date to be announced on the gallery's website at www.mu-terem.hu
The Mu-Terem burst onto the scene in 1998 by setting the record paid for a Hungarian painting at auction, selling a Rippl-Rónai for HUF 21 million. In the past ten years, the gallery has sold seven of the most ten expensive Hungarian artworks ever put on the block.
As well as changing its name in the spring, the gallery has put up a new home page, expanded its profile and dedicated its lower level to contemporary art.
It has also opened a virtual internet gallery. The gallery's first "exhibition", which runs from March 30 until April 20, shows works by The Eight, a group of Hungarian artists, including Károly Kernstok, Róbert Berény, Bertalan Pór, Lajos Tihanyi, Dezso Czigány, Béla Czóbel, Ödön Márffy and Dezso Orbán, who were influenced by Paul Cézanne, Fauvism and Art Nouveau.
Author: Gabriella Valaczkay
