Top 10 exhibitions in Budapest

The 19th century section includes the art of romanticism and symbolism with works by the greatest representatives of the French Impressionist era: Paul Cézanne, Camille Pissarro and Claude Monet can be admired alongside Austrian, German, Belgian and Scandinavians artists such as Franz von Lenbach, Wilhelm Leibl, Constantin Meunier, Akseli Gallen-Kallela.

The 20th century and contemporary sections are organized around the most important movements of modern international art: kinetic art, op art, geometric abstraction and are represented by works of major artists such as Günther Uecker, Victor Vasarely, Josef Albers, Peter Halley, Michelangelo Pistoletto, Erwin Wurm, Antoni Tàpies, Eduardo Chillida, Vera Molnar and Simon Hantaï.

In particular, you will be able to discover the works of the most famous Hungarian painters such as Károly Lotz, Mihály Munkácsy, Pál Szinei Merse, Csontváry, Rippl Rónai and János Vaszary among others.

Discover the National Gallery of Budapest in video:

Address: National Hungarian Gallery, Szent György tér 2., 1st district, Buda – map – website. Open hours: from 10:00 to 18:00 from Tuesday to Sunday.

The renewed Egyptian exhibition of the Museum of Fine Arts (renovated in 2018) awaits visitors with numerous new artefacts and themes with a larger exhibition space. The ancient Egyptian world is presented in three thematic units: Temples – Gods; The Nile Valley – People; Tombs – The Dead. A new addition is the “Egyptian chamber of secrets”, where visitors can make numerous great discoveries and can learn exciting new facts.

Discover great permanent exhibitions:
European Art 1250–1600 – Rafaelo, Dürer, El Greco, Bruegel,…
European Sculptures 1350-1800 (Messerschimdt, Sansovino,..).
Art in Hungary 1600–1800 (Bogdány Jakab, Mányoki Ádam, Stranover Tóbiás,…).
Egyptian Art and Antiquities.

Museum of Fine Arts video:

Address: Museum of Fine Arts, Dózsa György út 41, XIVth district, Pest – website.
Open hours: Tuesday-Sunday: 10:00 to 18:00, closed on Mondays.
Temporary exhibitions: from 10:00 to 17:30. Ticket counter from 10:00 to 17:00.

This exhibition of some forty works is a tribute to Tivadar Kosztka Csontváry, a Hungarian expressionist painter of the XIXᵉ and XXᵉ centuries and one of the most original and well-known artists in the history of Hungarian painting

This major exhibition covering Csontváry’s entire oeuvre will be held at the National Gallery at Buda Castle from 14 April to 16 July 2023. It is an opportunity to discover his lesser-known works alongside his most famous ones, including the very famous Self-Portrait, the miraculous painting of the ruins of the gigantic Greek theatre in Taormina and the Lonely Cedar, which Csontváry originally titled A Cedar of Lebanon.

Address: National Gallery, Szent György tér 2, 1st district, Buda – map – website. Opening hours: 10:00 to 18:00 from Tuesday to Sunday.

The Salvator Dalí exhibition, the largest ever held in Hungary, invites you on an unforgettable journey through Salvador Dalí’s engravings, life-size sculptures and other works of art with over 150 works of art. Salvador Dalí’s world challenges the perception of reality and pushes the limits of rational thought. This surreal journey culminates in a virtual reality experience.

Address: Komplex Event, Király u. 26, 6th district, Pest – map – Website.
Opening hours: daily from 10:00 to 19:00.

Victor Vasarely (1906-1997), a Hungarian plastician and naturalized French in 1961, is recognized as the father of the optical school of Op Art. He developed his own style of geometric abstract art and also worked for many French companies including Renault on its logo:
He also is responsible for the famous facade of RTL studio, rue Bayard in Paris:
The Vasarely Museum in Budapest was renovated in 2017 and features more than 150 works.

Address: Vasarely Museum, Szentlelek tér 6, IIIrd district, Buda – plan – website.
Open hours: 10:00 to 18:00 from Tuesday to Sunday.

The Ludwig Museum offers contemporary and modern works of art including American Pop Art (Andy Warhol, Claes Oldenburg, Robert Rauschenberg, etc.) and also Central European artists with a focus on Hungarian art of the sixties to the present day. Temporary exhibitions are scheduled (find programming on the museum website).
Pictures gallery:

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Address: Ludwig Museum, Komor Marcell u. 1, IXth arrondissement, Pest – map – website. Open hours: 10:00 to 18:00 from Tuesday to Sunday.

The House of Terror museum, opened in 2002, traces the history of the Fascist and Communist regimes in Hungary in the 20th century through a reconstruction of events, places and the projection of documents. It was one of the most controversial museums in Budapest when it was inaugurated.

House of Terror museum video:

Address: House of Terror museum, Andrássy út 60, Sixth District, Pest – map – website.
Open hours: 10:00 to 18:00 from Tuesday to Sunday.

Located 10km south of Budapest, Memento Park is an open-air museum of some 40 communist-era statues in Budapest, which were brought together in this park in 1991.

Address: Memento park, Balatoni út – Szabadkai utca sarok, XXII District, Pest – map – website – Opening hours: from 10:00 to 18:00 from Monday to Sunday.

This exhibition traces the career of the Hungarian-born photographer Ergy Landau (1896-1967). A member of the Hungarian diaspora who left her country after the First World War, she settled in Paris in the early 1920s. Ergy Landau participated in the most important photographic exhibitions. Her most personal photographs bear witness to her assurance, her precise sense of composition, her attention to detail and her facility in arranging the play of light and shadow. Her masterful portraits, especially of children, quickly made her known, and her formal experiments are in some ways similar to the style of the New Objectivity, while producing several female nudes.

Opening hours: Tuesday to Sunday from 12:00 to 19:00.
Address: Mai Manó Ház, Nagymező utca 20, 6th district. Pest – map – Website.

Discover Lajos Gulácsy (1882-1932), one of the most important figures of 20th century Hungarian art, with an exhibition of his life’s work at the Hungarian National Gallery in Buda Castle. This large-scale exhibition, which includes about 200 works, including 84 paintings, will shed new light on the various facets of Gulácsy’s art.
In addition to paintings, drawings, illustrations, manuscripts, photographs of the artist and some of his contemporaries, the world of the turn of the century and the beginning of modernism is explored through a series of photographs.

Address: National Gallery, Szent György tér 2, 1st district, Buda – map – website. Opening hours: 10:00 to 18:00 from Tuesday to Sunday.

Let’s get out of the classic exhibition scene in Budapest with a different kind of museum. Are you nostalgic for pinball machines? The Pinball Museum in Budapest is the largest permanent pinball exhibition where you can try 140 machines!
Admission for 10 € (6 € for those under 27 and over 62) offers you unlimited games on the pinball machines of your choice!

Open hours: closed Monday and Tuesday, Wednesday-Friday: 16: 00-24: 00, Saturday: 14: 00-24: 00, Sunday: 10:00-22:00.
Address: Pinball Museum, Radnóti Miklós u. 18, XIIIth district. website – map.

This article on the exhibitions in Budapest is regularly updated, but do not hesitate to check the open hours on the websites of the exhibitors to avoid any unforeseen surprises (public holidays, private events…).

Also discover our section ‘calendar’ on this link  for festivals, concerts, exhibitions in Budapest by month and our article on the best museums of Budapest on this link.