Klemmné Németh Zsuzsa szerk.: Triznya Mátyás (1922–1991) (PMMI kiadványai – Kiállítási katalógusok 13. Pest Megyei Múzeumok Igazgatósága, 2005)

It is a well-known fact that the real home of aquarelles is England. The permanent humidity of air, mist and fog wash away hard and definite contours, colours gain fine shades. Looking at an English landscape or towns we can feel like watching an aquarelle. At a Mediterranean climate, in the immense and permanent light, colours seem to vanish, view is built of mainly plastic elements, contours are hard, aquarelle paper dries quickly, the whole situation is against water colouring. However, Mátyás Triznya became an aquarellist in Rome. The character of his radiating pictures is determined by the place where he spent most of his life. Rome can still be regarded as one of the spiritual centres of Europe. This place Triznya Mátyás Auronzo-ban fest, attracts and with its emanation enriches all the people who approach open-minded the Eternal City. Escaping from Hungary in 1949, after a short detour in Graz, the Triznya-couple - with an instinctive attraction - got to Rome. However luring the chances seemed over the sea, they settled in Rome. Mátyás' painterly career, which started at the age of 5 according to family legends and continued after the grammar school studies though the parents had rather different plans about their son's future, evolved there. He enrolled in secret for the Academy of Fine Arts in the class of Lajos Nándor Varga and got acquainted with Zsuzsa, the daughter of István Szőnyi, painter, whom he had held in high respect. From that time on, his fate was sealed. He learnt the technique of aquarelling from István Szőnyi and Jenő Elekfy during the War. His attraction to painting even helped him earn his living in the first and the most difficult period of emigration because at his first work places at Austrian and Italian film studios he painted scenes, moreover, he got commissions for portraits and began to paint the famous buildings of Rome because there was demand for them. At this time he had some interesting changes of letters with his father-in-law, in which he asked for advice concerning some graphic and technical problems. István Szőnyi always explained thoroughly the tricks of painting clouds, drawing portraits, perspective and several other things and supported the explanations with drawings as well. He obviously enjoyed "distant teaching" and told his opinion willingly about the questions aroused. "Matyi, you are great, I liked a lot your picture on the small palace. It is homogeneous and fresh, without excesses. Verhaps, it is only the perspective, which is -1 would not say deficient - a little hit uncertain. Now I am going to describe the rule of perspective so that this uncertainty should not occur in your following things. The most important part is to determine the horizon of the whole picture ... "' And he goes on unfolding the topic clearly, which often develops into an exciting philosophical and theoretical chain of thoughts. This is what Mátyás Triznya told about his relationship to his father-in-law in an interview: "Long-long decades had to pass until you could feel certain enough to take a brush, especially in the shadow of such a great painter like István Szőnyi. He was much rather a friend for us than a father or a father-in-law ... He first came to us in 1

957 and last not long before his death, in 1

960. However, we take him as if he lived even now, as if he was with us ... We keep talking 1 István Szonyi's hand-written letter of 17th December 1949. Archives of Szőnyi István Memorial Museum IX/IV/6