New painting added to the Munkácsy exhibition of the Móra Ferenc Museum
A new painting was added to the Mihály Munkácsy exhibition at the Móra Ferenc Museum on Thursday, September 26.
After Rain, Autumn Mood is a joint artwork by Mihály Munkácsy and László Paál: at Paál's request, Munkácsy painted two figures on the special picture.
"A new painting has been added to our Munkácsy exhibition, the peculiarity of which is that this painting was created by László Paál, the most famous and well-known figure in Hungarian landscape painting, but at his request Munkácsy painted two figures on the special painting, so they created the painting 'After Rain, Autumn Mood' together," said Ottó Fogas, the museum's director, at a press briefing on Thursday afternoon.
Munkácsy was already a well-known and established painter, while László Paál and his works were hardly known, and he was struggling financially. In an effort to help his friend, Munkácsy painted two figures for this landscape himself, so that it would be easier to sell it with his name on it.
The painting was finally sold by Mihály Munkácsy on July 17, 1874, in Paris to Alexander Bernheim, founder of the legendary Bernheim-Jeune gallery. The painting was later taken to the United States, where Emil Kiss, a collector of Munkácsy's paintings, bought it at an auction in 1924. Then it was purchased from the banker's estate by one of the most prominent Hungarian collectors of the time, Fülöp Weiss.
The painting, a rare piece in art history and one of Paál's most significant works, was bought by Imre Pákh at last year's Kieselbach Gallery auction for a record price of HUF 65 million, Ottó Fogas explained. Visitors to the exhibition in Szeged will be the first in Hungary to see this remarkable artwork. Pákh owns most of the Munkácsy paintings displayed at the Móra Ferenc Museum.
The Mihály Munkácsy exhibition will be on display at the Móra Museum in Szeged until November 17.
Photos: Szilvia Molnar / Szegedify
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