Franz Liszt | Classical composer | Quotes / Aforismi

• Music embodies feeling without forcing it to contend and combine with thought, as it is forced in most arts and especially in the art of words.
• I conclude that the Wagnerian operas which are already in the repertoire, and other master works as well, stand in no further need of my services.
• I did not compose my work as one might put on a church vestment… rather it sprung from the truly fervent faith of my heart, such as I have felt it since my childhood.
• I find little in the works of Beethoven, Berlioz, Wagner and others when they are led by a conductor who functions like a windmill.
• I foster a sorrowful conception of affection. Make no sacrifices.
• In Hungary all native music, in its origin, is divided naturally into melody destined for song or melody for the dance.
• Inspiration is enough to give expression to the tone in singing, especially when the song is without words.
• It is impossible to imagine a more complete fusion with nature than that of the Gypsy.
• It is my fervent wish and my greatest ambition to leave a work with a few useful instructions for the pianists after me.

Franz Liszt Fantasizing at the Piano, 1840 (detail)

by Josef Danhauser ▪ Alte Nationalgalerie ▪

Hungarian Artists | Sitemap

Miklós Ligeti | Impressionist /Realist sculptor🎨

Hungarian art has been both stunted and spurred on by pivotal historical events.

King Stephen’s conversion to Catholicism brought Romanesque and Gothic art and architecture, while the Turkish occupation nipped Hungary’s Renaissance in the bud.

The Habsburgs opened the doors wide to baroque influences. The arts thrived under the Dual Monarchy, through Trianon and even under fascism. Under communism much money was spent on classical music and 'correct' theatre. Under current economic conditions funding for the arts is being slashed.

Mihály Von Munkácsy | Academic painter

Mihály Von Munkácsy (1844-1900), Hungarian painter🎨, whose real name was Michael (Miska) Leo Lieb, was the third son of Michael Lieb, a collector of salt-tax in Munkács, Hungary, and of Cäcilia Röck.

He was born in that town on the 20th of February 1844. In 1848 his father was arrested at Miskolcz for complicity in the Hungarian revolution, and died shortly after his release; a little earlier he had also lost his mother, and became dependent upon the charity of relations, of whom an uncle, Röck, became mainly responsible for his maintenance and education.

Charles Roka (1912-1999) | Genre painter

Charles Roka (Róka Károly) was a Hungarian painter🎨 living in Norway whose name became synonymous with an excess of artistic kitsch.

Roka was born in Hungary in 1912. After he finished his studies on the Academy of Fine Arts in Budapest he went on a European journey. In 1937 he finally settled in Norway, and lived in Bærum, outside Oslo until his death.

Emerico Tóth, 1970 | Abstract painter

Imre Tóth is an Hungarian painter. "My name Imre Tóth, artist name Emerico. My art is abstract, realistic, modern, sometime surreal, created in my own style and vision that most closely leans towards the expressionist and impressionist generic descriptions of styles.

There is no commitment towards theme and style. There is no defined path, only the love of painting. It is an ever-learning and experimenting spirit".

Istvan Sàndorfi (1948-2007) | Hyper-Surrealist painter

István Sándorfi🎨 also known as Étienne Sandorfi, was a naturalised French painter of Hungarian origin.

He received his formal art education at École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts and at École nationale supérieure des arts décoratifs in Paris.

He mastered what art critics now term hyperrealism. But he did so with his very own blend of Surreal🎨 elements. Having been introduced to oil painting at the age of 12, Sandorfi🎨 dedicated much of his life to perfecting his painting techniques in order to achieve the photoreal and at the same time pull the carpet away under the viewer by letting part of a person dissappear in thin air.

François Gall (1912-1987) | Ballet dancers

Hungarian by birth - born in Kolozsvar in the former region of Transylvania - François Gall (1912-1987) became an impressionist painter🎨 in the pure French tradition after he moved to Paris in 1936.

He studied at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Rome while working to secure a living.

The artist participated in various Salon exhibitions in Paris.

Support came in 1939 when the Hungarian government awarded🎨 Gall with a scholarship. Received the Medaille🎨 de Vermeil de la Ville de Paris in 1974.

Appointed Chevalier dans l’Odre des Arts des Lettres in 1976.

In 1963, he was honored with the Francis Smith Prize🎨.

François Gall | Impressionist painter

François Gall (22 March 1912, Hungary - 9 December 1987, France) was an Hungarian-born French🎨 modern impressionist painter.

François Gall was born "Ferenc Erdelyi Gall" in 1912 in Kolozsvár, Hungary (now Cluj Napoca).

In 1936, at age 24 years, he moved to Paris.

Early in 1939, Gall returned to Kolosvàr to attend the bedside of his dying father. Once there, he could not return to France as the declaration of war was imminent.

Gall's war time years were finished in Wels, Austria where he was a medic.