Synthesis 120 - Gy. Szabó Béla (1905-1985)

The Cluj-Napoca Art Museum, a public cultural institution, operating under the authority of the Cluj County Council, is organizing, between July 23 and August 10, 2025, the exhibition "Sinteză 120 - Szintézis 120 - Synthesis 120". The opening will take place on Wednesday, July 23, at 6:00 PM, in the presence of the exhibition curators: Miklós Ferenczy and Attila Iakob.

The exhibition "Sinteză 120 - Szintézis 120 - Synthesis 120" is a tribute to the artist Gy. Béla Szabó (1905-1985) and to the legacy that he left behind, as 2025 is a commemorative year - it marks 120 years since the artist's birth and 40 years since his passing. On this occasion, the Cluj Art Museum, in collaboration with Miklós Ferenczy, the custodian of the artist's legacy, brings to the public a selection of paintings, drawings and woodcuts intended to synthesize the six decades of artistic activity of Gy. Béla Szabó. The works exhibited on the walls of the exhibition rooms are a testimony not only of an exceptional talent, but also of a vision and desire for artistic expression marked by uniqueness and complex narrative structure. In the early years of his activity, the artist distinguished himself through his detailed and solid works of drawing and painting, and later switched to woodcuts, which would become his emblem and which he would master utterly. The vitality of his works resides not only in the ability to understand what is rendered on the work surface, but also in the interaction with the various geographical and cultural spaces whose image is present in the works. This unique perspective is largely due to the pilgrimages undertaken in China, Mexico, Bulgaria, Belgium, Hungary, etc., which allowed him a profound cultural interaction and opened his horizons of expressiveness through the connection to different worlds, but full of vitality and imbued with a profound cultural component. During his life, Gy. Szabó Béla made over 1400 woodcuts, 10,000 drawings in charcoal or ink, over 1500 pastels and almost 200 works in oil.