Laszlo Baan, Director of the Museum and Fine Arts and its member institutions, said that thanks to successful exhibitions, record-breaking visitor numbers and the strengthening of the institution's prestige, the museum's collection grew considerably in recent years.

He said that nearly a thousand works of art had been acquired through purchases and donations, representing a total value of over 5 billion forints (EUR 12.4m).

Among the new acquisitions he cited an El Greco painting, artworks representing a total value of one million euros received from Georg Baselitz, as well as pieces by Kandinsky and Girodet, an Egyptian mask, an antique vase and Japanese woodcarvings.

Baan said the exhibitions dubbed Guardians of Immortality - Terracotta Soldiers of China's First Emperor will be one of the most interesting shows of 2025, scheduled to open on November 27th.

The large-scale archaeological show will present over 150 artifacts, including ten original terracotta soldiers from the vast clay army first uncovered in 1974 near the tomb of China’s first emperor.

The exhibition will explore the rise of the Qin Empire between the 8th and 3rd centuries BCE, and a parallel display at the Hopp Ferenc Museum of Asian Art will examine the world of the Xiongnu (Asian Huns).

Baan then highlighted Hungary’s first-ever exhibition devoted to the visionary British poet and artist William Blake (1757–1827). Opening on 26 September and organised with London’s Tate Museum, The Marriage of Heaven and Hell will remain on view until 11 January 2026.

Alongside Blake’s works, the show will feature pieces by contemporaries such as Henry Fuseli, Benjamin West, John Hamilton Mortimer, and J.M.W. Turner, as well as reflections on Blake’s influence on Hungarian writers including Antal Szerb and Lőrinc Szabó.

The museum will also present a temporary display of 40 newly acquired contemporary works in mid-October, followed by an exhibition of mannerist drawings by Georg Baselitz, running from 11 December to 15 March 2026.

Meanwhile, the Hungarian National Gallery will host a retrospective of Adolf Fényes from 10 October, and a large-scale exhibition on Lajos Tihanyi opening on 20 November.

Baan also told the press that starting from this Friday a collection of highlights from the Museum of Fine Arts's graphics collection will go on display at the world-famous Guggenheim Museum of Bilbao. Featured artists include such classics as Durer, Leonardo, Raffaello, Rubens, Rembrandt and Goya, as well as Hungarian masters Barabas, Aba-Novak and Vasarely, he added.

Baán also addressed a review by Hungary’s State Audit Office, which questioned seven art acquisitions made between 2019 and 2024 on the grounds of public procurement rules.

The works in question — valued between 1.5 and 2 billion forints (approx. €3.85–5.1 million) — include pieces by El Greco, Béla Kádár, Pál Szinyei Merse, and Renaissance sculptures of the Virgin Mary by Lorenzo and Angelo di Mariano. The El Greco alone was purchased for around 600 million forints (€1.54 million).

Baán acknowledged that the acquisitions did not go through formal procurement procedures but argued that applying EU directives on public procurement to art purchases is “absurd.”

He explained that in the art world, acquisitions are based on negotiation rather than competition, adding that no major European museum has applied such rules over the past decade. According to Baán, institutions in Germany, France, the Netherlands, and Scandinavia also ignore the directive without sanction, recognising that it does not reflect how the art market functions.

In the past five years, the Museum of Fine Arts has expanded its collection by nearly 1,000 works through purchases and received a further 1,800 through donations, with a combined value exceeding 4.5 billion forints (≈ €11.5 million). The ongoing audit may still result in a fine, with a decision expected in the coming weeks.

Sources: 
turizmus.com & MTI - The Hungarian News Agency, founded in 1881.

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