In November 2025, Várfok Gallery celebrates the thirty-fifth anniversary of its founding. We mark this special occasion with an exceptional exhibition: ,,A Part of …” – Selected Works from the Szalóky Collection.
The exhibition brings together works that have not been exhibited for decades — or in some cases have never before been seen by the public. We look back on the past 35 years through 35 works from the collection of Károly Szalóky.
Although many know Károly Szalóky first and foremost as a gallerist, his passion for collecting has long been intertwined with— and indeed has accompanied —the history of Várfok Gallery for more than three and a half decades. His collection began to take shape in the 1970s, evolving beyond the mere acquisition of artworks into a conscious effort to build a coherent body of work. By the time he opened the Várfok Studio Gallery in 1990, his eye had sharpened, his focus had turned fully toward contemporary art, and he had identified the artists and works that resonated most closely with him.
The Szalóky Collection is at once a reflection and an extension of the history of the Várfok Gallery. It includes works by artists who were once, or still are, part of the gallery’s artist circle, as well as exceptional pieces that form bridges between twentieth- and twenty-first-century artistic ideas and art-historical narratives. Within the exhibition, Marie Laurencin’s paintings — depicting the lives of women and recalling the legacy of Guillaume Apollinaire’s former muse — resonate intriguingly with the autonomous art of Françoise Gilot.
This diverse collection reveals the stories and relationships that have shaped both Várfok Gallery’s and Szalóky’s interests from the late 1980s to the present day. Irony and social critique emerge as themes, represented by artists such as aatoth franyo, László Győrffy, and Levente Herman. At the same time, figures like Endre Rozsda, El Kazovszkij, Imre Bukta, István Nádler, Imre Bak, László Fehér, and Gábor Gerhes — key representatives of Hungarian contemporary art — appear here not only as markers of their era, but also as predecessors and formative influences on the thinking and worldview of younger generations.
Even this brief list of names shows how closely the Szalóky Collection gravitates toward the core of contemporary art. “A Part of …” offers a subjective exploration of the ongoing interplay between memory and context.
In these 35 works, 35 years of knowledge, commitment, and experience are condensed—revealing both a collector and an institution, which together have helped shape the Budapest art scene for almost half a century.