Barki Gergely et al.: Czóbel. A French Hungarian painter - ArtMill publications 5. (Szentendre, 2014)
Mimi Kratochwill: Béla Czóbel's mature period, 1925-1976
to do his best to enrich the material of the planned museum. Of course, he went everywhere in Paris by taxi since his daughter, whom he again met there, was now elderly. He purchased painting equipment and visited his studios, but he also rested a great deal in his old little hotel, the Hotel Blois. He was still keen at this time to continue working at home on his unfinished paintings. Happy news awaited him upon his return: he was made an honorary citizen of Szentendre, and he wrote a separate speech of thanks for the ceremony. At the end of November 1974 Oscar Ghez, the owner of the Petit Palais in Geneva, organized a Czóbel exhibition from works in his own collection, but the artist was unable to attend this occasion. He knew these works since Ghez had sent material to the 1971 exhibition in Budapest that he had purchased over the decades from private collections and galleries, and this collection contained many prominent works from Czóbel’s early period. The Petit Palais published important catalogues for the exhibition, where Czóbel’s works were displayed alongside those by Modigliani, Manet, Monet, Kisling and other noted artists in Ghez’s collection. Oscar Ghez even organized a trip for the friends of the Geneva Museum to visit Budapest and Szentendre, and later the Czóbel Museum. The Czóbel Museum in Szentendre opened on 27 June 1975. It was a huge event because up to this point very few museums had opened for artists in their own lifetimes. Most of the works 322. Czóbel at the opening of the museum NAMED AFTER HIM ON 27 JULY 1975. Private collection 323. Placing a wreath on Czóbel’s grave on the day of his ninety-fifth birthday atthe Farkasréti cemetery, 1978. Photo: Hungarian News Agency (MTI) 194 CZÓBEL, A FRENCH HUNGARIAN PAINTER
