Echoes of the Soul. Györkös Mányi Albert Exhibition

The Art Museum of Cluj-Napoca, a public cultural institution operating under the authority of the Cluj County Council, together with EMKE – the "Györkös Mányi Albert" Memorial House, the Liszt Institute, and the Clujul Comoară Association, are organizing the Györkös Mányi Albert exhibition, "Echoes of the Soul", from August 15 to September 6, 2026. The opening will take place on Saturday, August 15, 2026, starting at 6 PM, in the courtyard of the Bánffy Palace. Speakers: Vákár István, Vice-President of the Cluj County Council, Lucian Nastasă-Kovács, Manager of the Cluj-Napoca Museum of Art, and the curators of the exhibition: Portik Blénessy Ágota, art historian, Szebeni Zsuzsanna, coordinator of the Liszt Institute in Sfântu Gheorghe, and Kós Katalin, coordinator of the "Györkös Mányi Albert" Memorial House.

Györkös Mányi Albert (1922–1993) is one of the most authentic personalities of 20th-century Transylvanian painting, a figure impossible to fit into artistic schools or movements, characterized by a lyrical and naive sensitivity. In his creation, musical rhythm and the character of a visual ballad merge into a synthesis of unique originality. Through painting and graphics, the present exhibition explores three defining dimensions of this artistic microcosm: the artist's portraits, less known to the public, the urban landscapes of Cluj, imbued with a sense of familiarity and quiet loneliness, as well as the idyllic world of the village, both fairytale and dreamlike, inspired by his homeland, Călata Country (Kalotaszeg). The deliberately simplified and idyllic formal language of the images, their transcendingly warm chromatics, and characteristic symbols create a mythologized and timeless Transylvanian world, where daily life and the smallest rituals of human existence are elevated to sacred dimensions.

"I do not follow any current or updated scheme, and no one's personality has left its mark on me. I believe that the spirit of the theme is the determinant factor and, thinking this way, I try to immerse myself, to rise to the deepest layers of the human soul and of my own soul, to the most general emotions..." (Albert Györkös Mányi, from an interview granted to Látó magazine in 1992)

The exhibition will be open from August 16 to September 6, 2026, from Wednesday to Sunday inclusive (from Monday to Sunday during the Hungarian Cultural Days), between 10:00 AM and 5:00 PM.