Alej v Düsseldorfe

1864–1867

First genre pictures of peasant and poor life

His early works of 1864–1867 are mainly scenes from the daily lives of peasants and poor people, in the colourful, theatrical manner of Hungarian genre painters such as Károly Lotz and János Jankó. Then, as in “Storm in the Puszta” (1867), he pays more attention to the landscape around his figures.

1865 · Formation

Academy of Fine Arts Vienna

c. 1865

State grant to study abroad

After an apprenticeship with the itinerant painter Elek Szamossy he goes to Pest to seek the patronage of established artists, and with the help of the landscape painter Antal Ligeti receives a state grant. In 1865 he studies at the Vienna Academy under Karl Rahl, and in 1866 at the Munich Academy.

1867

Trip to Paris for the Universal Exposition

He travels to Paris to see the Universal Exposition; afterwards his style grows lighter, with broader brushstrokes and tonal colour schemes, probably under the influence of the modern French painting he saw there.

1868

Moves to Düsseldorf to study with Ludwig Knaus

He moves to the Düsseldorf Academy to study with the popular genre painter Ludwig Knaus. From the Düsseldorf genre painters he learns to convey different emotions in his figures and to treat them as a group, and he is associated with the Düsseldorf school of painting.

1870

Gold Medal of the Paris Salon

The picture “The Last Day of a Condemned Man” is awarded the Gold Medal of the Salon and makes Munkácsy a popular painter in an instant. He then moves to Paris with his friend, the landscape painter László Paál, and lives there until the end of his life.