Valuable painting donated to the National Gallery

The painting entitled Architektur I or Konstruktion auf blauem Grund (Construction on a Blue Ground) by 20th century Hungarian constructivist László Moholy-Nagy has been granted to the Hungarian National Gallery in Budapest.

The painting has been granted by the New York-based The Salgo Trust for Education, and its market value is estimated to be HUF several billion, László Baán, the director general of the Hungarian National Gallery told a press conference. The donation also fills a gap because before this, Hungary had no Moholy-Nagy paintings from the years following his emigration in 1919, he added.

According to Baán, this painting represents the highest-value private donation of an artwork granted to a Hungarian museum since the country's post-communist transformation.

The Curator of the Salgo Trust for Education, Olivér Botár Jr said the painting had been sought after by such institutions as the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and The Art Institute of Chicago, but the foundation believed it would be best displayed in Hungary. The work from 1921 is probably Moholy-Nagy’s first constructivist painting, he added.

Hungarian-born US businessman Nicholas M Salgó was US Ambassador to Hungary between 1983 and 1986 and he set up the foundation in 1991 to attract international attention to 20th century Hungarian art.