K. Peák Ildikó - Shah Gabriella: Mihályfi-gyűjtemény - Dornyay Béla Múzeum, Salgótarján (Salgótarján, 2014)
The Portrait Of A Collector (About Ernő Mihályfi)
Vállalat (Central Commission Shop), she was involved, along with art historians Dr. Irén Kirimi Kisdéginé and Béla Szíj from the Hungarian National Gallery, in the appraisal of the legacy, a larger part of which ended up in Nógrád County in 1977 as part of a purchase agreement between the Executive Committee of the Nógrád County Council and Mihályfi's widow, Filó. Although the works in our institution's possession are referred to here as a collection, to get a complete picture of the legacy it is important to keep in mind that it also includes other very important and valuable pieces currently in private hands, including paintings, sculptures and coins. What kind of man was Ernő Mihályfi, the art collector? His good friend Pál Pátzay pays tribute to him in the following words in the foreword to Művészek, barátaim-. "I would compare his relationship with the fine arts to the inherent empathy of the native. He touched a work of art as if he himself had been an artist. This explains the peculiar vernacular quality of his taste and collecting: always drawn to honesty, to what is yet to come. Throughout his career as a journalist he was especially interested in artists who were unrecognized but deserved appreciation... At the end of the '30s, when he bought a small house on the prestigious Rózsadomb ("Rose Hill") part of Buda, with generous dedication he planted his garden with rare and exquisite plants, which he then tended with unparalleled care. His house and garden were reduced to ruins during World War II, which, instead of diminishing his spirit, only fueled his love for plants even more. This was perhaps his innermost beauty. He established a garden even greater and richer than the old one-a wonderful, intimate, living world."5 We feel that this pursuit of continuity, the desire for perpetuity and an organic structure characterize the way the collection took shape. The aesthetic represented and mediated by these works may have served as shelter for the collector and the individual from his time and age. This aesthetic still stands today, representing an incredible value for us and all posterity, as Ernő Mihályfi's collection provides a characteristic cross-section of Hungarian art in the first half of the 20th century. 5 Pál Pátzay: "Előszó." Rpt. in Ernő Mihályfi: Művészek, barátaim, pp. 10. 20 Mihályfi Collection
