The Hungarian Mona Lisa

9/14/2020

Not only is Pál Szinyei Merse (1845 -1920) Hungary's most iconic painter, but he also ranks among the most popular, especially among common Hungarians. Though I like Merse, I don't understand the Hungarian fascination with his 1874 painting Lady in a Violent dress, which is often informally referred to as The Hungarian Mona Lisa.

The image is ubiquitous over here; to the point that I would wager every fifth household in Hungary has a copy or reproduction of this simple portrait hanging on a wall. For example, my paternal grandmother had a copy, as did my paternal great aunt. I'm fairly certain my maternal grandparents also owned one. I have spotted the seated figure in many of neighbors houses and have even come across her at the university campus where I work.

Don't get me wrong, it's a fine painting, but I just can't wrap my head around its popularity, which lingers on to this day.

Is it the simplicity of the composition? The violet color of the dress? The humble elegance the lady projects? The faraway gaze? The ambiguous expression? The uncomplicated landscape in the background?

Note added: I personally believe nostalgia fuels the painting's popularity, but this is just a hunch.

2 Comments

bruce charlton

9/15/2020 08:45:07

Sorry to dissent, but I think this is a mediocre painting! OK but certainly not major.

Look at the fabric of the dress - which takes up much of the focus of the picture - it is lifeless. Great 'society' portraitists, like Thomas Gainsborough, could make such a dress into a sumptuous, lustrous landscape. The girl's face too lacks that quality of vivacity and character that the best portraitists achieve - again, compare Gainsborough (or Reynolds, Raeburn, Ramsey, Romney... or, from later eras Sargent, Tissot) - where the face 'leaps outs' at you (even if the surroundings are conventional or sketchy).

Looking at Merse's other work, it seems he was technically inferior to the best painters of those days. His ideas are good enough, but the execution is a bit 'off'.

Francis Berger

9/15/2020 10:56:33

@ Bruce - You haven't dissented at all. Though I was far more generous in my commentary, I agree with your assessment.

As I said in the post, I don't understand why this painting is popular and highly regarded over here. The popular part is easily explainable, but the high regard leaves me baffled.

I also don't understand why Merse is considered an iconic Hungarian painter and held in such high regard in Hungary. Most of Merse's Hungarian contemporaries were better, in my opinion.

Perhaps this is a simply a case of the mediocre appealing to the masses? Or sentimental, borderline kitsch striking a chord with the common man?

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The Hungarian Mona Lisa

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