Sz. Kürti Katalin: Munkácsy Mihály élete és kultusza (Békéscsaba. - Békéscsaba, Békés Megyei Múzeumok Igazgatósága, 2004)

The life and cult of Mihály Munkácsy. Resume

He is one of the greatest Hungarian painters who achieved a sequence of international success during the last third of the 19th century. In 1870 the picture "Siralomház" won the golden medal of the Paris Salon and in 1878 „Milton' won the golden medal of the Paris World's Fair. The colossal paintings „Krisztus Pilátus előtt" (1881) and „Golgota" (1884) have been exhibited all over the world and became American properties like „Milton", which is owned by the Public Library of New York. These pictures were travelled around the world by Munkácsy's promoter, K. Sedelmeyer. The two paintings on Christ were bought by John Wanamaker. In 1889 he lent them to the Paris World's Fair where they won the grand prize. From 1911 he stored his paintings in the Wanamaker Megastore's special room. „Zálogház" can be found in the Metropolitan, „Mozart halála" is in the Museum of Detroit. Honoring his American presence a series of lectures were given in the Congress. There are also paintings in the Moscow, Stockholm, Haga, Munich, Köln, Luxembourg and Berlin galleries, in the Musée d'Orsay in Paris and „A reneszánsz apotheózisa" adorns the staircase of the Vienna Kunsthistorisches Museum. In Hungary museums take care of about 150 paintings, the most important is the collection of the National Galery, the Déri Museum and the Munkácsy Museum in Békéscsaba. During his life only a few of his paintings were in collection. „Zivatar a pusztán" and „Újoncok" represented him in the exhibition of the National Museum. Between 1896 and 1899 five more paintings were bought and „Honfoglalás" was ordered for the Houses of Parliament. A good example for Munkácsy's generosity is the foundation of the Munkácsy Grant but he did not care about the future of his works. He did not present museums with his pictures, probably he felt it would be too early at the age of 50 and he could not foresee his early death. It became even worse when during his illness his wife auctioned off his mansion in Paris and all the works of Munkácsy's, which proved to have been so harmful after his death. In the first years of the 20th century the Munkácsy collection of the Museum of Fine Arts grew significantly as his widow and former friends sold the paintings to the Museum. Between the two worldwars the role of Elek Petrovics, the custodian of this museum who collected and published successfully, was important in the cult of Munkácsy. In the meantime two provincial museums also settled the Munkácsy collections. Békéscsaba, the scene of the painter's childhood and younger years, started to collect already in Munkácsy's life.