Making Lemonade from Lemons

When I awoke I did not hear rain pouring down, but it was still raining.

I didn't want to be this kind of tourist today. I had planned to take the bus to a nearby city to see some sights, but changed my mind. I did some work around my flat and then walked down Kiraly for a cappucino. About 10:30 I walked across Szechenyi Ter to the Nady Lajos School where the Munkacsy Trilogy is on display.

Munkacsy is an acclaimed Hungarian painter. In fact there is a street very near my flat named after him. His work is scattered all over the world and much is often not available to Hungarians.

This trilogy is very special. Munkacsy, himself, never saw the three paintings together in the same place. And they will not be together again for a very long time -- if ever -- because one of the painting is owned by a museum in Canada and will be moved there when this exhibition closes.

The trilogy in English are Christ Before Pilate (1881), Golgotha (1884), and Ecce Homo (1896).

Photography was not permitted at the showing. Above is an image of Christ before Pilate found on the Internet.

Seeing these for real is an incredible experience. First, they are simply immense. Each painting is probably 18x20 feet, if not larger. Notice in the above picture how the area behind Pilate really looks like wood. It is even more stunning when seen in person. What also amazed me is how the pictures go together as a unit, amazing because they were done over a 15 year period. Pilate appears in Ecce Homo and looks exactly the same. The man on the lower right side of the above painting appears in Golgotha carrying a ladder away from the cross. I learned also that Munkacsy died shortly after completing the third painting. To have done such a huge painting and kept in great detail with the other two while in ill health is a great achievement.

After some lunch I spent a bit of frustrating time at my office trying to do some printing of article related to a new course that I'm designing for my home university. That rather chewed up the afternoon and suddenly is was too late to go to any other museum here in Pecs.

I have inquired about the weather and was told May is always a rainy month in Pecs, but what is happening this year is most unusual. Let's hope for sunshine soon!