The world’s picture books
MúzeumCafé 6.
Róbert Alföldi, the director of the Hungarian National Theatre, spends a lot of time among paintings. His commitment to painting is reflected by the works of contemporary artists exhibited in the theatre’s foyer. He has involved his favourite painters, whose creations also decorate his home. As a child he was rather attracted to old objects. He hunted for treasures in old attics and collected what he found there. “Interestingly, weapons did not interest me, like boys in general, but clay dishes and statues. Therefore I spent a lot of time in the National Museum.” Today he would rank the Kunsthalle and the Ludwig Museum among his favourite Hungarian contemporary exhibition venues, but he is often amazed by the collections of the Museum of Fine Arts and the Hungarian National Gallery. “When the exhibition ‘Monet and Friends’ displaying the most prominent Impressionist painters came to Budapest I visited the relevant permanent section in the Fine Arts Museum. I could see far nicer works there than in the temporary exhibition acting as a bait to draw people. Wherever I travel I first go to museums. And don’t I know the permanent exhibitions in my own capital!” When asked to name his favourite museum abroad he avoids answering, saying he doesn’t have one, but he can mention some which he always visits whenever he can. “If I’m in New York I always go to The Museum of Modern Art. The same holds for the Metropolitan. I always find parts which are worth seeing again.” Róbert Alföldi regards museums as picture books, which he can take off the shelf at any time.