Acquisitions, donations – now on display
A Selection of Recent Acquisitions of the Municipal Gallery
16 December 2023. – 7 April 2024.
The Exhibition is open to the public Tuesdays to Sundays from 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.
Acquisitions, donations – now on display
The Municipal Gallery is the art collection of the Budapest History Museum. The Gallery houses both images related to the history of Budapest and a collection of artworks of leading Hungarian artists, from the 17th century to contemporary art, irrespective of the subject matter.
During its nearly 150-year history, the collection has seen many twists and turns – both political and conceptual. Nonetheless, the acquisition of 19th and 20th century art, as well as contemporary art related to the city’s history, has always been a priority for the museologists managing the collection, regardless of the changing level of accompanying support. Due to the nationalisation of the first collection of the Municipal Gallery in 1953, in 1959 our predecessors had to start from scratch. Their success was due to the fact that from the 1960s, the capital city provided financial support for the acquisition of artworks on a scale unimaginable today. Collection efforts concentrated not only on the history of the city but also on the constantly evolving art historical canon, and thus, as a result of decades of systematic work, one of the most important fine arts collections in the country and the only one in Budapest was created.
Acquisitions, donations – now on display
A Selection of Recent Acquisitions of the Municipal Gallery
2023.12.16. – 2024.04.07.
The last couple of years have been characterised by a scarcity of financial resources. Art acquisitions have mostly been facilitated by successful applications to the different divisions of the National Cultural Fund of Hungary. The acquisition and collection strategies are strongly linked to and influenced by the direction of the exhibition programme but there have also been some outstanding pieces acquired as a result of donations and archaeological excavations.
It was more than ten years ago that the Municipal Gallery last presented the results of its collection activities: both an exhibition and a catalogue overviewed the period between 1996 and 2012. Some years later, during the pandemic, a series of virtual exhibitions was launched, featuring the works recently added to the collection.
This time, we are showcasing the acquisitions of the last ten years in two exhibitions. The first one features works of art from several periods, including contemporary endeavours. They are related to Budapest and to its history. The works of art have been grouped along twin concepts to encourage inspiring thoughts and ideas about the tasks of museums, about the challenges of conservation about narratives attached to certain objects and their aspects of memory politics.