Lajos Gulācsy

Lajos Gulācsy (born Oct. 12, 1882, Budapest, Hung.—died Feb. 21, 1932, Budapest) was a Hungarian painter and a forerunner of Surrealism.

Gulācsy attended the Mintarajziskola (School of Drawing) in Budapest before traveling to Rome and Florence in 1902 and then to Paris in 1906 to continue his studies. He was so traumatized by the outbreak of World War I that he had to be taken to a psychiatric institution in Lipótmező, where he remained for the rest of his life. In the institution he continued to paint. His first exhibition was at the Ernst Museum in Budapest in 1922.

Gulācsy’s paintings are characterized by a unique lyrical Surrealism. Many of his works feature Rococo-style figures that live in Naconxypan, a fantasyland of his invention. Yet his art is not associated with any particular school; indeed, it also evokes a medieval or Pre-Raphaelite sensibility. Gulācsy’s most important works include Dante és Beatrice találkozása (“The Meeting of Dante and Beatrice”), Szerelmesek (“The Lovers”), A varázsló kertje (“The Sorcerer’s Garden”), Rózsalovag (“Chevalier aux Roses”), and Az ópiumszívó álma (“The Dream of the Opium-smoker”). In 1924 Gulācsy went completely blind. After his death, a memorial exhibition was opened in the Budapest National Salon in 1936.

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