The Exhibition
Nearly 140 works, four decades of work: the first major French retrospective of Károly Ferenczy invites a rediscovery.
“Károly Ferenczy. Hungarian Modernity” brings together nearly 140 paintings, drawings, and studies, exhibited at the Petit Palais from April 14 to September 6, 2026.
This first French retrospective reveals an artist (1862-1917) very famous in Hungary but little known in Paris, whose work lies at the crossroads of naturalism, symbolism, and a uniqueness close to impressionism. Rather than simple optical effects, light in Ferenczy’s work becomes substance and a driving force in composition: clearings, rivers, bathers, and interiors are arranged around a solar radiance that transforms motifs and formats.
Designed in partnership with the Museum of Fine Arts in Budapest and the Hungarian National Gallery, the exhibition offers a comprehensive overview of four decades, tracing the evolution of a painter who made clarity his language.
Why go
Four reasons why this retrospective deserves a visit: uniqueness, scope, light, and historical context.
From Vienna to Munich, a cosmopolitan in formation
The journey of a European painter: Vienna, Rome, Paris, Munich – all stages that shape a unique identity.
The European path of a painter in the making The exhibition is curated by Annick Lemoine, president of the public establishment of the Orsay and Orangerie museums, in partnership with the Museum of Fine Arts Budapest. At the entrance, a self-portrait flanked by two paintings shows Ferenczy directing the pose of his model, in the forest on one side, in the studio on the other.
The studio painting won him a gold medal at the 6th Venice Biennale in 1905. Károly Ferenczy, Orpheus, 1894 Born in Vienna in 1862 as Carl Freund, into a noble family in Budapest, Ferenczy grew up multilingual, speaking Hungarian, German, French, English, and Italian.
After studying law in Vienna, he turned to painting on the advice of Olga Fialka, his cousin and future wife. His training travels took him to Italy and then to the Académie Julian in Paris.
Editor's note
Seeing Ferenczy in Paris means following the progress of a painter who made light a pictorial thought: each room of the installation reveals a different way of measuring brilliance.
One leaves less instructed about a movement than transported by a method: to illuminate, compose, transform the ordinary into vision.
Nagybánya, cradle of Hungarian modernity
The foundation of a colony marks a turning point: plein air painting becomes both a method and an aesthetic program.
In 1896, Ferenczy settled in Nagybánya (today Baia Mare, Romania) with Simon Hollósy, István Réti, Béla Iványi Grünwald and János Thorma, founding an artist colony focused on plein air painting.
This group, which would soon include about fifty members, embodied the break with academicism and provided Ferenczy with a terrain for pictorial maturation, between direct observation and formal ambition.
The retrospective recreates this foundational period by showing how the landscape motif became a laboratory: colors, formats, and techniques were experimented with unprecedented freedom.
Notably, his biblical subjects do not stem from personal faith: they express a poetic transposition of the narrative, treated as pictorial material rather than an act of devotion.
Frequently Asked Questions
What are the exhibition dates and opening hours?
The exhibition runs from April 14 to September 6, 2026. The Petit Palais is open Tuesday to Sunday from 10 am to 6 pm (last entry at 4:30 pm). Late openings on Fridays and Saturdays with extended hours until 8 pm.
Where and at what price can I get tickets?
Tickets are available online.
What exactly does the exhibition present?
This is the first major French retrospective devoted to Károly Ferenczy.
How do I get to the Petit Palais and who can I contact for practical information?
The Petit Palais is located on avenue Winston Churchill (8th arrondissement). Access via metro lines 1 and 13 (Clemenceau), line 9 (Franklin D. Roosevelt), and RER C.
Light, the body, and final landscapes
After 1900, a so-called “full sun” phase imposes a new chromatic intensity and a renewed relationship with the body.
Solar radiance at the heart of a painting in transformation After 1900, Ferenczy’s palette bursts open. This phase, called “full sun,” focuses his art on the effects of light in the landscape: bathers, rivers, thatched cottages flooded with clarity.
He alternates oil and tempera, adjusting the canvas sizes to find the ideal proportions. At the Top of the Hill (1901) and The Painter (1903) sum up the achievement of this research.
Appointed professor at the Budapest School of Fine Arts in 1906, Ferenczy returned to studio work. The last part of the exhibition explores the representation of the body: classic female nudes alongside male figures in motion, acrobats, wrestlers, athletes.
His nudes engage in dialogue with Titian, Velázquez, or Courbet. At the same time, his caricatures and satirical drawings reveal a more intimate and humorous facet of his work.
Ferenczy makes solar light the absolute protagonist of his painting.
Gallery
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