Until the 16th of September, the Museum of Fine Arts in Budapest exhibits �The Age Of Pieter Bruegel. Flemish drawings of the 16th century�, which shows a panoramic of the great changes that took place in Flemish art between the 16th and 17th century. This is the first time that numerous works of this period of time have been exhibited, allowing the showing of this evolution, since in 1932 and 1967 there were small partial exhibitions of drawings of that time.

The 17th century was shaped by great historical events that would have a great repercussion in European art. The Netherlands, the place where Flemish art developed, suffered great changes that would affect its intellectual life and the arts, since the deepening of the cracks between medieval and modern cultures with the humanism that had emerged with Italian Renaissance, would develop an important role in the creation of a new system of values that were to impregnate the arts.

This can be appreciated in the prints of drawings that are exhibited here, among which we can find some by Jan Gossaert, Roelandt Savery, Pieter Bruegel, Lodewijk Toeput, Bartholomeus Spranger or Friedrich Sustris, which belong to the Albertina Museum in Vienna and were loaned for this special occasions, since the Museum of Fine Arts of Budapest doesn�t have enough material to show this process panoramically.

However, the collection of this museum is famous for some works, among them those that show landscapes, such as Pieter Stevens� work, of which the museum is the owner of the whole. There�s also works by Paulus van Vianen, Frederick van Valckenborch and Anton Mirou.

Pieter Bruegel, known as �The Elder� was born circa 1525 -although the exact date and the birthplace are unknown. He was a pinter and engraver who was part of the Flemish school of artists. His work made him the most important representative of 16th century painting in the Netherlands and, together with Van Eyck, Rubens and Jeronimo Bosco they constituted the most select group of Flemish painters.

Between 1555 and 1563 he setlled in Antwerp, where he made paintings for the editor Hyeronimus Cock, who ordered him some engravings. During that time he produced 16 works for the art patron Nicholas Jonghelinck, who integrated himself in the artists scene and often met with characters that were considered scholars due to their extensive cultural knowledge.

Bruegel is known for his deeply humanized landscapes. His work is of an impressive precision and detail. He was also a great observer, which allowed him to reproduce the expressions, the physiognomy and the posture in certain situations of the peasants in great detail, as well as the way they walked and the clothes they wore. He painted with impressive ability and dominated ink drawing. Bruegel had the skill of overcoming the Italian mannerists and the previous Flemish artists by achieving a more modern and realistic conception of painting. Some of his most famous paintings are the series of the Tower of Babel: The Construction of the Tower of Bable and the Small Tower of Babel.

For more information: http://www.szepmuveszeti.hu/web/guest/articleview?mi_layout_id=29.30&mi_article_id=1015

Nancy Guzman

If you want to enjoy an unforgettable experience these summer holidays rent apartments in Budapest and see its museums and galleries.

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Until the 19th of February of 2012, the Budapest Museum of Fine Arts holds the exhibition �El Greco to Rippl-Rónai�, which gathers the collection of Marcell Jánoshalmi Nemes. With this exhibition they attempt to pay a tribute to the patronage of the Hungarian art collector who became a legend in the world of art in the beginning of the 20th century.

The exhibition was titled �El Greco to Rippl-Rónai� because it shows the broadness of the contained works in this important collection. For that they�ve selected 120 objects, among which we can find works by great Italian and Dutch masters, works of Hungarian artists, china, medieval sculptures and other objects of decorative art from different times, catalogues and documents belonging to Nemes.

Marcell Jánoshalmi Nemes was born in Jánoshalma, Hungary, in 1866. His becoming of one of the most important patrons and collectors in Hungary and Europe was full of speculations. This meant that his figure become one of the most controversial ones of his time, which made him into a legend, because he opted to finance young Hungarian artists and artists from other nationalities, buying their works so they could carry on their perfectionist studies.

During his life he donated various works of his collection, such as the valuable work by El Greco �Mary Magdalene in penitence� and another by Ádám Mányoki, �Ferenc Rákózi�, which is considered a work of heritage in Hungary of huge value, a gem of Hungarian arts, to the Hungarian Museum of Fine Arts.

His generosity wasn�t limited to his country. Numerous institutions such as the Munich Museum, the Berlin Museum, the Louvre Museum and the Prado Museum also received donations. Also, various Hungarian institutions, such as the Applied Arts Museum, received donations, and he contributed in a generous way to the foundation of the Kecskemét Photography Gallery, to whom he gave 80 works of his private collection on Hungarian painting in 1911.

Based on this singularity of Nemes, the exhibition is made up by works of his collection belonging to various national and international museums, as well as parts of his collection that are found today in the hands of private collectors. With this, they try to enhance the wealth of the collection and remember his visionary view on art and its preservation for future generations.

In the exhibition we can find works by important 19th and 20th century Hungarian artists, among them works by József Rippl-Rónai, Mihály Munkácsy, Pál Szinyei Merse, Károly Ferenczy, János Vaszary, Béla Ultz and Károly Kernstok among others.

József Rippl-Rónai was born in Kaposvár, Hungary, in 1861. Despite his pharmacy studies, he moved to the Art Academy in Munich to study painting and then moved to Paris to study the same subject with Munkácsy. Among his greatest painting there�s �My Grandmother� and the portrait of the great Hungarian pianist Zdenka Ticharich.

For more information: http://www.szepmuveszeti.hu/web/guest/articleview?mi_layout_id=29.30&mi_article_id=964

Nancy Guzman

It�s always pleasant to spend a few deserved relaxing days in Budapest, a city full of romance, art, history and a culinary offer of the highest quality. For these and thousands more reasons, rent apartments in Budapest now and enjoy the beginning of 2012 so you can start the year with positive energy.

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Translated by: aleixgwilliam
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Until the 4^th of September, the Museum of Fine Arts in Budapest will display an innovative exhibition that is already considered as one of the most exciting artistic productions of its kind. Art on Lake exhibits 25 works by artists from 14 European Union countries, which are screened outdoors at City Park Boating Lake.

The contemporary art exhibition continues the tradition of giving local artists the right to display their works. That is why this project has been planned during three last years in cooperation with the EU and the Government of Hungary, whose organization went to the Museum of Fine Arts.

This project has been considered as an extension of the Museum in public spaces. This exhibition changes the walls and corridors of the traditional museums for 35 thousand square meters of natural environment in the middle of the city. In this environment, artists from Belgium, Finland, France, the Czech Republic, Netherlands, Poland, Germany, Romania, Russia, Spain, Slovakia, Italy, England, Austria and Hungary present the best of their work.

The exhibited works are focused in giving visibility to the pressing problems of our time, while giving a positive look at the solutions they might have. In the selection process of the guest artists and their works for the exhibition were involved the Municipal Gallery director Peter Fitz, art historian and curator Krisztina Jerger and independent art historian and exhibition organizer Alexander Tolnay.

In the long list of participating artists are: Susana Solano and Jaume Plensa from Spain, Patrick Poirier from France, Günter Uecker, Via Lewandowsky and Willi Weiner from Germany, Daniel Knorr from Romania, Kristof Kintera from the Czech Republic, The Hungarian artists Róza El-Hassan, Zeno Kelemen, Ilona Németh and Balázs Kicsiny, among many others.

The conceptual sculptures are scattered around the lake and the page http://www.artonlake.hu/ shows a map of the distribution of the works, the artist and a photo of the sculpture.

Susana Solano�s work, one of the best representatives of contemporary Spanish sculpture, has an interesting poetical approach referred to the human burden due to the limited natural space in modern cities. It is composed by two elements and the nature of the place that completes the meaning of the work. It consists of a white plane floating on the lake and on it a white boat.

Each sculpture is a visual poetry, there are small floating gardens, metal butterflies perched on the lake, suspended in the water jars, candles that are deployed on the lake, etc. All of them appeal to the beauty of nature and the need to preserve it.

For more information http://www.szepmuveszeti.hu/web/guest/articleview?mi_layout_id=29.30&mi_article_id=846

Nancy Guzman

Art on Lake is a great show not to be missed if you are on holiday in apartments in Budapest Enjoy the most beautiful natural environment of the city.

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Translated by: Hans
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The Museum of Fine Arts in Budapest will display until the 12^th of September an exhibition called The Eight, which includes works by the Group of Eight, whose works represent the best of the Hungarian art inspired by the French modernist currents from the last century. People will have the opportunity to appreciate newly discovered and restored works by some of the artists of this important group.

The story of the meeting of these eight artists dates back to 1909, when they met in the first avant-garde art exhibition in Budapest, in which the audience discovered this talented group of young artists who introduced Cubism and Expressionism, while breaking the classicism of the Hungarian painting.

The Group of Eight was formed by Róbert Berény, Béla Czóbel, Ödön Márffy, Dezső Orbán, Bertalan Pór, Dezső Czigány, Lajos Tihanyi and Károly Kernstok. They were inspired by Henri Matisse and Paul Cezane, considered the fathers of Fauvism, because of their chromatic exaltation based on the color theory that established the primary, secondary and complementary colors.

The impact caused by the Group of Eight in the Hungarian culture was crucial for the development of the modern arts and intellectual vanguard. In their three exhibitions, they gathered artists from various disciplines and intellectual trends among which were the composers Béla Bartók and Zoltán Kodály, the poet Endre Ady and the philosopher György Lukács.

Róbert Berény was well known for his portrait of the Hungarian composer Bela Bartok, which was painted in 1913. As well as all members of the Group of Eight, Berény performed several activities in music and literature that were never known. After the fall of the republic in 1919, he immigrated to Berlin, along with many other artists and writers from Hungary. In 1926 he returned to Hungary and won the Szinnyei award in 1936. During World War II, his workshop was destroyed and many of his works were lost forever.

Czóbel Béla was a member of the Group of Eight who was considered as a regarded member of the exclusive Ecole de Paris, a group of the greatest painters of the twentieth century.

Dezső Czigány of gypsy origin studied painting in Paris and dedicated himself to painting portraits and dead nature. His suicide after killing his family condemned his work to ostracism, and that is why it is hard to find his works and references.

Lajos Tihanyi was a painter, illustrator and autodidact lithographer, because he never was able to study due to his condition as deaf-muted person. He was Cubism, although he changed his current through the years.

All painters of the Group of Eight performed wonderful works and were enormously prolific. Many of their works were destroyed during the Second World War.

For more information http://www.szepmuveszeti.hu/web/guest/articleview?mi_layout_id=29.30&mi_article_id=877

Nancy Guzman

An interesting entertainment proposal for this summer. Rent apartments in Budapest and come to discover the paintings of the Group of Eight and its influence in the Hungarian art.

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Translated by: Hans
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