The exhibition, called ?Hungarian Fauves from Paris to Nagybánya, 1904-1914?, presents almost 250 works of art by Hungary?s Fauves as well as the great French representatives of the movement: Henri Matisse, André Derain, Raoul Dufy, Albert Marquet, and Maurice Vlaminck. It is one of the few exhibitions to seriously examine the origins of contemporary Hungarian painting.
The Fauvists ? French for ?wild beats? ? emphasised freshness and spontaneity over finish. They used simplified lines, exaggerated perspectives and brilliant, but arbitrary colors. As Paul Gaugin, one of the movements most important painters said: "How do you see these trees? They are yellow. So, put in yellow; this shadow, rather blue, paint it with pure ultramarine; these red leaves? Put in vermilion.?
The short-live movement, led by Matisse and Derain, first gained momentum at the Paris Autumn Salon in 1905, after which an art critic gave the painters their famous moniker. Hungarian artists, especially those who spent longer periods in Paris, including Róbert Berény, Béla Czóbel, and Géza Bornemisza, soon adopted the new style of painting and brought it back with them to the Nagybánya school in Hungary. The style evolved at the school and was taken up by artists now called the ?Group of Eight?, who also include Béla Grünwald Iványi and István Csók.
In addition to paintings, studies for nudes painted by the Fauvists are being exhibited on the third floor of the National Gallery.
?Hungarian Fauves from Paris to Nagybánya, 1904-1914?
22 March, 2006 - 30 July, 2006
Buda Castle, Building C, Ground Floor and 3rd Floor
