Árpád Szenes (also ; 6 May 1897 in

Budapest Budapest is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns of Hungary, most populous city of Hungary. It is the List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, tenth-largest city in the European Union by popul ...

– 16 January 1985 in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

) was a Hungarian-

Jew Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, religion, and community are highly inte ...

ish abstract painter who worked in France.Arpad Szenes
iographical timeline Árpád Szenes-Vieira da Silva Foundation. fasvs.pt. Retrieved 2016 October 31. :hu:Szenes Árpád

Biography

In 1897, Szenes was born into a petty bourgeois family in Budapest. Many artists including Arthur Bárdos, Ignotus, Lajos Hatvany were guests at the family's home. He went to the Munkácsy Mihály Street Secondary Grammar School and was taught among others by

Milán Füst Milán Füst (17 July 1888, Budapest – 26 July 1967, Budapest) was a Hungary, Hungarian writer, poet and playwright. Biography Early in life, his family lived on Dohány utca in the 7th district of Budapest. In 1908 he met the writer Ernő Os ...

. He was passionate about drawing. He served in

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, but he was not deployed to the front; he painted portraits on the graves of heroic fallen soldiers from photos. Here he was recognized by the sculptor Dezső Bokros Birman, who directed him towards modern art. He enrolled in the free school of

József Rippl-Rónai József Rippl-Rónai (23 May 1861 – 25 November 1927) was a Hungarian painter. He was among the first Hungarian exponents of artistic modernism. Biography He was born in Kaposvár. After his studies at the high school there, he went to ...

, where Béla Iványi-Grünwald and

Károly Kernstok Károly Kernstok (23 December 1873, in Budapest – 9 June 1940, in Budapest) was a Hungary, Hungarian painter. In the early twentieth century, he was known for being among the leading groups of Hungarian painters known as the "Neos" and The Ei ...

had great influence on him. In 1919 he worked with his fellow painters at the Artist Colony of

Kecskemét Kecskemét ( ) is a city with county rights in central Hungary. It is the List of cities and towns of Hungary, eighth-largest city in the country, and the county seat of Bács-Kiskun County, Bács-Kiskun. Kecskemét lies halfway between the ca ...

. Since they did not receive money, they had to do agricultural work. He painted together among others with Gyula Derkovits, Béla Iványi-Grünwald, János Kmetty, Róbert Emil Novotny and Pál Pátzay. He was ill with hard physical work, and moved with two friends to a business premise in Városmajor Street in Budapest. At that time, he met

István Beöthy István (Etienne) Beöthy (1897 – 27 November 1961) was a Hungary, Hungarian sculptor and architect who mainly lived and worked in France. Biography After the World War I, First World War, in which he served, Beöthy began to study architectu ...

, with whom they studied

Buddhism Buddhism, also known as Buddhadharma and Dharmavinaya, is an Indian religion and List of philosophies, philosophical tradition based on Pre-sectarian Buddhism, teachings attributed to the Buddha, a wandering teacher who lived in the 6th or ...

and

Oriental The Orient is a term referring to the East in relation to Europe, traditionally comprising anything belonging to the Eastern world. It is the antonym of the term ''Occident'', which refers to the Western world. In English, it is largely a meto ...

art. His style was not mature yet: in 1922 he exhibited abstract artwork at a group exhibition of young artists at

Ernst Museum The Ernst Museum ( Hungarian : ''Ernst Múzeum'') is an art museum located in Budapest Budapest is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns of Hungary, most populous city of Hungary. It is the List of cities in the European ...

, but his other paintings of the same year reflect the traditions of the Hungarian painting of the turn of the century and the influence of his masters. He went on a European study trip; the first station was in Germany in 1924, where he met with the works of Kandinsky and

Klee Paul Klee (; 18 December 1879 – 29 June 1940) was a Swiss-born German artist. His highly individual style was influenced by movements in art that included expressionism, cubism, and surrealism. Klee was a natural draftsman who experimented wi ...

, and then studied the paintings of

Giotto Giotto di Bondone (; – January 8, 1337), known mononymously as Giotto, was an List of Italian painters, Italian painter and architect from Florence during the Late Middle Ages. He worked during the International Gothic, Gothic and Italian Ren ...

and

Piero della Francesca Piero della Francesca ( , ; ; ; – 12 October 1492) was an Italian Renaissance painter, Italian painter, mathematician and List of geometers, geometer of the Early Renaissance, nowadays chiefly appreciated for his art. His painting is charact ...

in Italy. He first visited Paris in 1924, then only for three months, then again in the autumn of 1925 for staying. The money that he received from his uncle was gone, and for months he was in extreme poverty, and as advised by László Ney lived on cartoons made from guests at

Montmartre Montmartre ( , , ) is a large hill in Paris's northern 18th arrondissement of Paris, 18th arrondissement. It is high and gives its name to the surrounding district, part of the Rive Droite, Right Bank. Montmartre is primarily known for its a ...

cafés. Many Hungarians lived in Paris, in addition to his mother, György Marton, Zsigmond Kolozsvári and Gábor Peterdi helped Szenes artistically. At this time he already had exhibitions, and while he was having a bohemian lifestyle with many affairs, he was also attending the

Académie de la Grande Chaumière The Académie de la Grande Chaumière () is an art school in the Montparnasse district of Paris, France. History The school was founded in 1904 by the Catalan painter Claudio Castelucho on the rue de la Grande Chaumière in Paris, near the A ...

. Here he met in 1929 the Portuguese artist

Maria Helena Vieira da Silva Maria Helena Vieira da Silva (13 June 1908 – 6 March 1992) was a Portuguese abstract painter. She was considered a leading member of the European abstract expressionism movement known as Art Informel. Her works feature complex interiors and c ...

and they married in 1930, his wife became a Hungarian citizen, and remained until 1956. After marriage, he lived a more restrained life. In 1930, the couple visited the Nagybánya artists' colony. They lived and worked in a dead end called rue des Camelias in Paris, where many artists lived. They met

Lajos Tihanyi Lajos Tihanyi (29 October 1885 – 11 June 1938) was a Hungarian painter and lithographer who achieved international renown working outside his country, primarily in Paris, France. After emigrating in 1919, he never returned to Hungary, even on a ...

's friend, Kokoschka and Varèse, but

Jacques Lipchitz Jacques Lipchitz (26 May 1973) was a Lithuanian-born French-American Cubist sculptor. Lipchitz retained highly figurative and legible components in his work leading up to 1915–16, after which naturalist and descriptive elements were muted, domi ...

also visited them. Later they moved to boulevard Saint Jacques where their studio was above a cardboard factory. Through their patron and gallery owner, Jeanne Bucher, they were in close contact with

Joan Miró Joan Miró i Ferrà ( , ; ; 20 April 1893 – 25 December 1983) was a Catalan Spanish painter, sculptor and Ceramic art, ceramist. A museum dedicated to his work, the Fundació Joan Miró, was established in his native city of Barcelona ...

and

Max Ernst Max Ernst (; 2 April 1891 – 1 April 1976) was a German-born painter, sculptor, printmaker, graphic artist, and poet. A prolific artist, Ernst was a primary pioneer of the Dada movement and surrealism in Europe. He had no formal artistic trai ...

. At that time Szenes visited the café gatherings of Les Amis du Monde, a group of young left-wing artists including

Étienne Hajdú Étienne Hajdú (born ''István Hajdú''; 12 August 1907 – 24 March 1996) was a Kingdom of Hungary, Hungarian-born France, French sculptor of Jewish descent. After emigration to Paris in the 1930s, he became part of the Hungarian circle of a ...

, Maurice Estève,

Édouard Pignon Édouard Pignon (12 February 1905 – 14 May 1993) was a French painter of the School of Paris. Biography Pignon was born into the family of a miner involved in the workers' movement. From a young age he was inspired by the paintings of Franci ...

André Breton André Robert Breton (; ; 19 February 1896 – 28 September 1966) was a French writer and poet, the co-founder, leader, and principal theorist of surrealism. His writings include the first ''Surrealist Manifesto'' (''Manifeste du surréalisme'') ...

Louis Aragon Louis Aragon (; 3 October 1897 – 24 December 1982) was a French poet who was one of the leading voices of the Surrealism, surrealist movement in France. He co-founded with André Breton and Philippe Soupault the surrealist review ''Littératur ...

. Through his wife, he contacted the

Stanley William Hayter Stanley William Hayter (27 December 1901 – 4 May 1988) was an English painter and master printmaker associated in the 1930s with surrealism and from 1940 onward with abstract expressionism. Regarded as one of the most significant printmakers ...

-led

Atelier 17 Atelier 17 was an art school and studio that was influential in the teaching and promotion of printmaking in the 20th century. Originally located in Paris, the studio relocated to New York City during the years surrounding World War II. It moved ...

studio which inspired his surrealist works from the 1930s. At the outbreak of

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

they left Paris, leaving Jeanne Bucher their studio and pictures. They spent a few months in

Lisbon Lisbon ( ; ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 567,131, as of 2023, within its administrative limits and 3,028,000 within the Lisbon Metropolitan Area, metropolis, as of 2025. Lisbon is mainlan ...

, where Szenes had an independent exhibition, and then went to Brazil in 1940. They lived in

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro, or simply Rio, is the capital of the Rio de Janeiro (state), state of Rio de Janeiro. It is the List of cities in Brazil by population, second-most-populous city in Brazil (after São Paulo) and the Largest cities in the America ...

for some time, then settled in nearby Santa Teresa. The art community in Rio was less inspirational than in Paris; although they met

Dr. Atl Gerardo Murillo Coronado, also known by his signature "Dr. Atl" (October 3, 1875 – August 15, 1964), was a Mexican painter, writer and intellectual. He is most famous for his works inspired by the Mexican landscape, particularly volcanoes, an ...

and some other painters, they were more involved with poets and writers at this time. He painted nature, portraits of writers, poets and illustrated books. He founded a painting school called Sylvestre, taught amateurs and young Brazilian modernists. In 1947 they returned to Paris, regained the boulevard Saint Jacques studio and Szenes continued to teach. At that time he started working on perhaps his most significant series of geometric and organic shapes, repetitive motifs called 'Bankett' made of various techniques (

watercolor Watercolor (American English) or watercolour (Commonwealth English; see American and British English spelling differences#-our, -or, spelling differences), also ''aquarelle'' (; from Italian diminutive of Latin 'water'), is a painting metho ...

gouache Gouache (; ), body color, or opaque watercolor is a water-medium paint consisting of natural pigment, water, a binding agent (usually gum arabic or dextrin), and sometimes additional inert material. Gouache is designed to be opaque. Gouach ...

oil An oil is any nonpolar chemical substance that is composed primarily of hydrocarbons and is hydrophobic (does not mix with water) and lipophilic (mixes with other oils). Oils are usually flammable and surface active. Most oils are unsaturate ...

pastel A pastel () is an art medium that consists of powdered pigment and a binder (material), binder. It can exist in a variety of forms, including a stick, a square, a pebble, and a pan of color, among other forms. The pigments used in pastels are ...

and

chalk Chalk is a soft, white, porous, sedimentary carbonate rock. It is a form of limestone composed of the mineral calcite and originally formed deep under the sea by the compression of microscopic plankton that had settled to the sea floor. Ch ...

). Meanwhile, he painted portraits of Vieira da Silva, making hundreds of paintings altogether. The French state bought from his paintings for the first time in 1949, followed by several state purchases. From the mid-1950s his expression became cleaner. On his landscapes the vertical-horizontal relationship is of great significance, his color scale has been reduced to a few pale colors. From then on, his wife Vieira da Silva became more and more renowned while his popularity diminished. In 1979 he donated seven works made between 1942 and 1970 to the Museum of Fine Arts in Budapest and the Janus Pannonius Museum in

Pécs Pécs ( , ; ; Slovak language, Slovak: ''Päťkostolie''; also known by #Name, alternative names) is List of cities and towns of Hungary#Largest cities in Hungary, the fifth largest city in Hungary, on the slopes of the Mecsek mountains in the c ...

. After his death and the end of communism in Hungary, Vieira da Silva established a foundation in 1990 in Lisbon with their names for the promotion of young artists. The museum building in Praça das Amoreiras 58 was previously a silk factory. He died at age 87 from a

pulmonary edema Pulmonary edema (British English: oedema), also known as pulmonary congestion, is excessive fluid accumulation in the tissue or air spaces (usually alveoli) of the lungs. This leads to impaired gas exchange, most often leading to shortness ...

, in 1985.

List of works

Works in books Chapters Pierre Guéguen: La chasse au faon rose (ed. Cahiers d'Art, 1938) c. book of Illustrations for Murilo Mendes, Rainer-Maria Rilke, Jorge de Lima, 1944 Fifty gouache René Char Le Temps épars c. manuscript, 1966 Gravures (ed. F. Mermod), Lausanne, 1968. His works in public collections Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York Musée National d'Art Moderne, Paris Musée des Beaux-Arts, Dijon Musée des Beaux-Arts, Rennes Musée des Beaux-Arts, Rouen M. Figueira da Foz (POR) Musée canton des Beaux-Arts, Lausanne Musée Fabre, Montpellier M. Bezalel, Jerusalem Museum of Fine Arts, Budapest Janus Pannonius Museum, Pécs M. Nacional, Rio de Janeiro Kunsthalle, Zurich Center d'Art contemporain, Abbaye de Beaulieu. exhibitions Individual exhibitions 1933 - Galerie UP ngraving by Julian Trevelyan Paris 1939, 1949, 1952, 1955, 1974 - Galerie Jeanne Bucher, Paris 1941 - Press House, Rio de Janeiro 1947 - Quelques français et des peintres, sculpteurs et graveurs hongrois de l'Ecole de Paris, Galerie de Bussy, Paris 1957 - Galerie Betty Thommen, Basel 1958 - Galerie Pierre, Paris 1960, 1965, 1969 - Galerie de Cahiers d'Art, Paris 1961 - Galerie du Grand Chene, Lausanne 1965 - Galerie Alice Pauli, Lausanne - Galerie 27, Oslo 1969, 1974, 1981, 1988 - Galerie Jacob, Paris 1968 - Paysages accordés, Galerie Alice Pauli, Lausanne 1970 - Galerie Régence, Brussels 1971-1973 - Retrospective - Musée des Beaux-Arts d'Orleans - Fundaçao Calouste Gulbekian, Lisbon - Rennes - Lille - Nantes - Rouen 1974 - Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, Paris (Retrospective) 1975 - Musée Fabre, Montpellier - Galerie Michel Vokaer, Brussels 1976 - Dessins d'Arpad Szenes and de Vieira da Silva, Center Georges Pompidou, Paris 1977 - Hungarian National Gallery, Budapest - Janus Pannonius Museum, Pécs - G. Information, Tunis 1982 - Hommage à Arpad Senes, M. Ingres, Montauban 1983-1984 - Musée des Beaux-Arts de Dijon - G. EMI, Lisbon 1985 - Fundaçao Calouste Gulbekian, Lisbon 1985 - Hommage à Arpad Senes, Galerie Jeanne Bucher and Galerie Jacob, Paris 1986 - Nasoni G., Porto - Fundaçao Calouste Gulbekian, Lisbon 1987 - Fundaçao Calouste Gulbekian, Lisbon - Bertrand G., Lisbon 1989 - Modern Art Museum, Porto 1994 - Budapest Historical Museum, ieira da Silva 1995 - Hommage à Vieira da Silva et ~, Abbaye de Beaulieu, Ginals (FR) 1997 - Fundaçao Árpád Senes-Vieira da Silva, Lisbon (retrospective) 1999 - Portraits of ieira da Silva Fine Arts Museum, Budapest 2000 - Salle St. Jean, Hôtel de Ville de Paris - Fundaçao Calouste Gulbekian, Lisbon Most important group exhibitions 1931, 1933, 1934, 1936, 1937, 1956 - Salon des Surindépendants, Paris 1932 - Salon d'Automne, Salon des Tuileries, Paris 1936 - Atelier 17, Leicester Gallery, London - New painting from Europe, East River Gallery, New York 1938 - Hungarian Artists in Paris, Tamás Gallery, Budapest - École de Paris, Galerie Jeanne Bucher, Paris 1944 - Atelier 17, Modern Art Museum, New York 1948 - French, Spanish and Hungarian Artists, National Salon, Budapest 1948, 1953, 1960, 1961, 1966, 1967 - Salon de Mai, Paris 1952 - Rythme et couleurs, Musée Cantonal, Lausanne - Les peintres d'aujourd'hui in Paris, Kunsthaus, Zurich 1953 - Biennale de São Paulo 1955 - The Movement of Contemporary Art, Musée Cantonal, Lausanne 1957 - French art, Zagreb - Belgrade 1959 - from Manet to the present, Warsaw - Hommage à Monet, Galerie Art Vivant, Paris - 80 Maler der Ecole de Paris, 1900-1959 - Vienna - Linz 1959, 1960 - Documenta II. and III, Kassel 1960 - Hommage à Jeanne Bucher, Galerie Jeanne Bucher - La Peinture française d'aujourd'hui, Museum of Tel Aviv - M. Bezalel, Jerusalem 1961 - Stedelijk M., Amsterdam 1962 - "French Rysunki XVII-XX S", Warsa w 1962, 1968 - Salon des Réalités Nouvelles, Paris 1963 - Contemporary French Painting, National Gallery, Salisbury 1966 - Dix ans d'art living 1945–1955, Fondation Maeght, St. Paul de Vence (FR) 1967 - Dix ans d'art vivant 1955–1965, Fondation Maeght, St. Paul de Vence (FR) - Galerie Jacob, Paris - Les quatre éléments, Galerie Cimaise, Paris 1968 - Painting in France 1900-1967 (traveling exhibition), Washington, New York, Chicago, San Francisco, Montreal - L'uso de la peinture ith Bryn, Zack Galerie La Roue, Paris 1969 - Hommage à René Char, Musée de Céret 1970 - Hungarians from Paris, Galerie Zunini, Paris - 20th Century Hungarian Artists Abroad, Műcsarnok, Budapest 1971 - Hommage à Christian et Yvonne Zervos, Grand Palais, Pari 1979 - Spring Exhibition, Hungarian House, Paris - Présence Paris-Budapest, Orangerie des Jardins du Luxembourg 1982 - Honor to your homeland. Artists living abroad with Hungarian descent II. exhibition, Műcsarnok.

References

External links

Fundação Arpad Szenes-Vieira da Silva
(in Portuguese) {{DEFAULTSORT:Szenes, Arpad 1897 births 1985 deaths 20th-century French painters 20th-century French male artists French male painters Hungarian painters 20th-century Hungarian Jews Hungarian emigrants to France People from Pest, Hungary Deaths from pulmonary edema