The Várfok Gallery exhibition Nature morte sur table étrange (Still Life on Strange Table) traces the emergence of Endre Rozsda’s distinctive visual world through paintings, drawings and graphics from the 1940s. It offers a glimpse into a decade in which Rozsda continued to search for his own voice, even after his early work had won recognition.
Born in Mohács, Endre Rozsda (1913–1999) spent much of his life in Paris. As a member of the European School, he became an important figure in postwar Hungarian art and later became associated with the Parisian Surrealists. His works are held in the collections of the Centre Pompidou and the Hungarian National Gallery, among others.
As a child, Rozsda would spend long periods looking at the paintings hanging in his family home. In his imagination, he entered their landscapes and explored their details. Later, he encouraged viewers of his own paintings to linger before them and find a path into each work. In Paris during the 1940s, he studied various artistic movements, and Surrealist ideas opened up new horizons in his painting. The works Nature morte sur table étrange (Still Life on Strange Table) offer a glimpse into this decade of exploration.
Rozsda’s relationship with Várfok Gallery dates back to 1999. Still Life on an Unusual Table is his thirteenth solo exhibition at the gallery.