Best of Budapest & Hungary

The renowned Hungarian artist Tivadar Csontváry Kosztka's priceless painting of the Moon in Taormina, which has not been seen by the public for a long time, will be included in the exhibition entitled Rome - Budapest, opening at the Judit Virág Gallery this Thursday, the gallery said on Wednesday.

    According to the statement, the appearance of Csontváry's Sicilian landscape, painted in 1901, is an artistic sensation, as the privately owned painting has not been seen by the wider public for a long time.

    The release quotes art historian Anna Kelen as saying that few works survive after Csontváry, and that there are around 20 in private collections, one of which is The Moon in Taormina.

    Csontváry visited Sicily on several occasions, and it was during one of these trips that he painted this picture and its companion piece, The Almond Blossom in Taormina. Csontváry painted the two pictures from almost the same point, but facing in a different direction and at a different time of day. The Moon Blossom in Taormina is unique in that it depicts a night landscape, which required a unique technique on the part of the artist, and is also a large, spectacular painting.

    The painting's value is difficult to estimate, but the Hungarian auction record is currently held by a Csontváry painting, Mysterious Island, which sold for HUF 460 million at the Judith Virág Gallery auction in 2021.

    The Rome - Budapest exhibition features more than 100 colorful, Italian-inspired and spectacular paintings and other works of art. The gallery has been working on the exhibition for several years, with most of the works on loan from private collectors, allowing the public to see works that are never or rarely shown by their owners.

    Through paintings and other works by Vilmos Aba Novák, Lajos Gulácsy, Károly Patkó and János Vaszary, among others, the exhibition illustrates the influence of Italy on Hungarian art. The exhibition is open free of charge from February 22 to March 28.