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The period from the end of the Napoleonic Wars to the Austro–Hungarian Compromise – an era that saw the strengthening of national identity and the advancement of the ideal of freedom – is aptly described, borrowing the motto coined by Ferenc Kölcsey, as the age of “homeland and progress”. Progress was manifested in economic and industrial performance, the implementation of reforms, and the civic development of the country, while culture became one of the most important spheres for the expression of the homeland and national unity. During these five decades, the art scene was transformed and renewed. The first public exhibitions were held, followed by press reviews that helped shape an art-literate audience. The Pest Art Society was founded in 1839 by an association of private individuals, providing regular exhibition opportunities. The first permanent exhibition in the Hungarian National Museum, the first bastion of institutionalisation, opened in 1846, and in the same year art training was launched in the First Hungarian Academy of Painting.
Just as Biedermeier art reflects social changes and the emergence of the bourgeoise, our exhibition presents the art of this period in the context of the phases of human life, from birth to death. The lifestyle-history approach is realised through a combination of works of fine and applied art – with the cooperation of Hungarian and Austrian public collections and Hungarian private collectors. Hungarian works of art shown at hugely successful international Biedermeier exhibitions in recent decades are, on this occasion, part of a colourful exhibition in Budapest that features over three hundred items. Almost ninety years have passed since the last Hungarian exhibition of fine art from this period, and almost two hundred years since the emergence of the Hungarian Biedermeier: nevertheless, the civic virtues perceptible in the fine arts and object culture of this period are still a part of our everyday lives.
Biedermeier Lifestyles - Art And the Rise of the Middle Classes in 19th-century Hungary (1815–1867), 31 October 2024 - 9 February 2025, Hungarian National Gallery
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