Significant Croatian and Hungarian Female Figures Evoked by Hungarian and Croatian Artists in Zagreb

On August 27, 2025, the exhibition Femininology 2025 opened at the Liszt Institute Zagreb, which through the works of 10 Hungarian and 10 Croatian artists evokes women who, with their lives, set an example and left a lasting mark on Hungarian and Croatian culture and history. The exhibition was realized with the contribution of the Liszt Institute Zagreb, and through the collaboration of the Association of Hungarian Fine and Applied Artists and the Croatian Association of Visual Artists and Art Critics. From October 2, it can also be seen in Budapest, at the gallery of the Association of Hungarian Fine and Applied Artists.

On August 27, 2025, the ceremonial opening of the international multimedia exhibition Femininology took place at the Liszt Institute Zagreb. This event stems from a special cultural collaboration that started to take shape nearly a year ago, when Sanda Stanaćev Bajzek, president of the Croatian Association of Visual Artists and Art Critics, reached out to the Liszt Institute in Zagreb to explore cooperation. On this occasion, works by Hungarian and Croatian female artists were presented to the public. The artworks evoke women whose lives set an example and left a lasting mark on the pages of Hungarian and Croatian culture and history. The exhibition highlights, among others, painter and graphic artist Lili Ország, Mari Törőcsik, one of the greatest Hungarian actresses of the 20th and 21st centuries, Saint Piroska, daughter of King Saint Ladislaus, as well as Sára Salkaházi, a heroine of the Holocaust. Placed in a shared space with Croatian creators, contemporary Hungarian art demonstrates that, like the great masters of the past, today’s artists are also capable of articulating universal questions and building bridges between nations. Within the framework of Femininology, Hungarian and Croatian artists jointly present how they reinterpret the diversity of female identity and how they respond to the social and cultural issues of our time.

Two Hungarian artists attended the opening in person. The audience could greet Éva Mária Gábor, who presented the work of Valéria Dienes through a hologram, as well as Barbara Szőke, whose glass artwork depicts the world-renowned Hungarian gymnast Ágnes Keleti. In addition to them, the Zagreb audience can view the works of Emese Bács, Zsuzsanna Enyedi, Imola Farkas, Csilla Kelecsényi, Katalin Nádasdi, Fruzsina Spitzer, Borbála Szanyi, and Éva Andrea Szőcs. The multimedia character of the exhibition was ensured by the diversity of techniques used. Alongside acrylic and oil paintings, the display was enriched and varied with electrographics, an infrared image, women’s garments, sculptures, animation, and numerous installations and assemblages created using different, sometimes even found, materials.

At the opening, greetings were given by Zsófia Gyöngyös, Acting Head of Mission; Beáta Siklósi, Cultural Attaché; Marina Ivandić, Vice President of the Zagreb City Assembly; and Jasmina Kovačević-Čavlović, Advisor at the Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs of the Republic of Croatia. Sanda Stanaćev Bajzek, the curator of the project, spoke about the exhibition’s concept and the significance of this year’s Hungarian-Croatian artistic collaboration. The following day, at the exhibition’s second venue, the Archaeological Museum in Zagreb, a smaller selection of the artists’ works was on display. Croatian visual artist and art therapist Vesna Matić also presented how women have been depicted from prehistoric times to the present.

From October 2, 2025, the exhibition will open in Budapest at the gallery of the Association of Hungarian Fine and Applied Artists, giving Hungarian visitors the opportunity to experience this prestigious international artistic dialogue firsthand.