Pákh, who lives in New York, told MTI that he, together with Lászlo Baán, the director of the Hungarian National Gallery and the Museum of Fine Arts in Budapest, met with Hermitage director Mikhail Piotrovsky during the week and agreed on the Munkacsy show.

Baán told MTI that the cooperation between the National Gallery and Pákh was exemplary and would make a substantial contribution to the re-discovery of Munkácsy abroad. Giving Munkácsy, who is revered in Hungary, his rightful place abroad is an important goal, Pákh said. Exhibitions of Munkácsy’s work in Vienna, Shanghai, Beijing, Moscow, and now in St Petersburg, show it has been brought to the forefront, he added.

After the show in St Petersburg, exhibitions of Munkácsy’s work could open in Paris and in the Metropolitan Museum in New York, Pákh said.

Pákh told MTI he would support the inclusion of “Golgotha”, part of Munkacsy’s monumental “Christ Trilogy”, in the Hermitage show. The painting currently hangs veiled in the Déri Museum in in Debrecen, in eastern Hungary, because of a legal dispute. Pákh noted the remarkable success of showings of the “Christ Trilogy” in Vienna and Budapest.

Photo: MTI

Republished with permission of Hungary Matters, MTI’s daily newsletter.