A Lajos Tihanyi Masterpiece Sold for HUF 130 million

The work of Lajos Tihanyi, which has not been seen for 100 years, was bought for HUF 130 million and a painting by Lajos Gulácsy for HUF 140 million at the winter auction of the Judit Virág Gallery, the gallery's communications agency told MTI on Sunday.

According to the statement, one of the most anticipated lots of Saturday night's auction was a masterpiece by Lajos Tihanyi, which had not been seen for 100 years, and which had survived the past decades in the possession of a Hungarian family before turning up on the art market, surprising experts. The painting, ‘Landscape with Margaret Bridge’, depicts one of the most expensive and spectacular private palaces in Budapest's history, the former villa of architect János Wagner, with the Danube and Margaret Bridge in the distance.    

Lajos Tihanyi was always inspired by the bustle of the city, and the artistic value of the painting is enhanced by the fact that few major known works in Hungarian classical painting depict Budapest of the period with such quality. The painting finally found a new owner at auction for HUF 130 million.    

The exceptional work by Lajos Gulácsy had been awaited by collectors for more than two decades, with one of them finally acquiring the painting for HUF 140 million. The Lady Playing the Old Instrument was dubbed ‘the Hungarian Mona Lisa’ by the trade and the press in 2002. Thought to be lost, the work was found in 2002, and in that year, it set an absolute Hungarian record for the number of times it was knocked down at an auction at the Judit Virág Gallery. The large oil painting is one of the outstanding works of Gulácsy and Hungarian painting, the press release reads.