Tense Silence
Exhibition series from Péter Horn's collection

Gábor Ébli

Icon- and cover image:
László Drégely: Funeral ╱ 1965 ╱ oil on isorel ╱ 75×170 cm

Within the contemporary Hungarian terrain, the selection on display in the non-profit section of the Budapest Contemporary fair in autumn 2024 illustrated the opening of the collection. For the fourth time, Dezső Váli was the cornerstone, but this time in dialogue with young artists. Váli has numerous works in the collection, and three exhibitions had already been held featuring these. In 2022, a selection covering all periods of his oeuvre was on display at Kálmán Makláry’s gallery.[1] A version of this was then shown at the Liszt Institute in Stuttgart in 2023, and in 2024, a Váli exhibition from the collection was created at the Vastuskós House in Győr.[2]

The fourth exhibition in autumn 2024 marked the opening of the collection to young artists.[3] Péter Horn recently acquired works by György Király, Róbert Lak and Botond Kuti. The stylistic affinity between Váli and Király’s paintings is particularly close, with silence as their common denominator. How is it possible to evoke not only the silence of the physical environment but also a mystical, inner silence with the help of just a few objects – studio props or dishes placed on a table?

Lak and Kuti’s paintings also draw on dynamics. The amorphous, organic colour flows convey a sense of timelessness, but also a fresh turbulence and tension. Their inspiration cannot be identified as an object, but rather as a vision, a collision of forces, a waterfall of colours flowing into each other. This is a world beyond reality, surreal.

In the case of these two young artists, this is also a point of connection with Váli, especially his early, surrealist-inspired period, as well as the early works of other artists in the collection. The legacy of surrealism was decisive for Judit Reigl, who moved on from this to image creation based on free gesture. Reigl is also represented by a large number of paintings in Péter Horn’s collection. Alongside the foundation managing the artist’s estate and Kálmán Makláry’s private collection, this material is one of the largest selections of Reigl’s work in a single collection in international comparison.

[4] https://www.artisbusiness.hu/hu/hireink/az-alulertekelt-muveszekre-vadasznak-maklary-kalman-horn-peter-interju-3238/

Like Reigl, Ferenc Fiedler also became a sovereign artist in Paris after the Second World War. The texture of his paintings is dominated by flows and swirls, and it is this movement that provides the link to the trends mentioned. It is no coincidence that Péter Horn has acquired a large number of his works since the mid-2000s, making him one of the most significant owners of Fiedler’s collection alongside the Fondation Maeght. Reigl and Fiedler’s works were added to the collection in such large numbers at a time when they were little known, at least in Hungary, and represented the joy and excitement of rediscovering a forgotten treasure.[4]

In addition to the two French-Hungarian artists, other figures of the Parisian émigré community, such as Zsigmond Kolozsváry and Antal Bíró, are also represented in the collection with numerous works, making it one of the main repositories of Hungarian art in France in Hungary. This is all the more so because the work of István Sándorfi is also one of the cornerstones of Péter Horn’s collection. While his life in Paris connects him to the aforementioned artists, his virtuoso figurativism sets him apart from them. In his early period, this technical skill served as a means of creating and concealing tension in his works, while in his later, more refined canvases, his technical superiority and deliberately made „mistakes” and exaggerations counterbalance each other.

István Nyári, who is also represented in the collection with numerous works, offers a parallel to Sándorfi, as his meticulously painted pictures attract the viewer through their apparent realism, raw candour and visual representation of suppressed violence.

The overview so far has highlighted certain focal points of the collection. Dezső Váli and metaphysical silence, contemplative reception, the economy of a few recurring visual motifs condensed into small-scale images, and the power of self-discipline form one block. Reigl, Fiedler and other Hungarians in Paris form the other group, which is partly organised around the story of finding a new home abroad and then returning home after the turn of the millennium. While Váli is characterised by an ascetic, repetitive lifestyle and visual world, loyalty to a few selected values and the depth of their exploration, Reigl’s career and visual medium are marked by an explosive search for freedom and rebellion against the constraints left behind in Hungary. Another cornerstone is the Sándorfi–Nyári duo, whose brilliant figurativeness and depiction of the tensions of the human soul provide a unique focus.

[5] https://www.facebook.com/events/8514095075323180/

[6] https://horncollection.com/

[7] See interview with the collector: https://www.artmagazin.hu/articles/interju/d4cc58f4009b3aff9216aba7d644bf4a

[8] https://szentandrassygaleria.hu/en/media/photos/horn-gyujtemeny-a-varazslo-meseje-kiallitasmegnyito

[9] https://szentandrassygaleria.hu/kiallitas/29/nap-korul-a-csillagokban

[10] https://blog.axioart.com/horn-peter-a-gyujtemenyrol-bovebben/

Péter Horn is a collector who does not base his collection on art historical trends or theoretical concepts but rather chooses according to his own taste. The businessman, who manages his large company responsibly and precisely, sheds his suit on the art market and gives free rein to his personality. However, the structured manager also makes an appearance. Once Horn has cast his vote for an artist, he collects their work in depth. It is understandable that, with such significant financial investments, he wants to make rational, mutually reinforcing decisions that exploit a given direction. In 2024, the Tér-Kép Gallery in Krisztinaváros organised a special exhibition entitled Colligere (Latin for ‘to collect’) from four collections: the owners wrote personal comments and background information for each work, and these statements were also displayed in the exhibition space, thus revealing Péter Horn’s motivations.[5]

He also keeps himself informed about the international art market, for example by following the artfacts.net website. An equally important motivation behind the carefully considered, systematic selection of artists for the collection is the desire to present the featured artists in a comprehensive and internationally relevant manner, thereby shaping the artistic canon. In line with this, he launched its website in 2025.[6]

Two further sections attest to this approach. János Balázs and other Roma artists, such as Tamás Péli, are represented in the collection with the same number and importance of works as the aforementioned artists.[7] This is a forward-looking gesture towards Roma artists, as it suggests to the public that it is not origin or artistic education that is decisive, but the authenticity of the visual world. And why shouldn’t Balázs’s soaring imagination be just as much a repository of the dream and desire images of surrealism? Why couldn’t Balázs be just as much a great figure in the search for human and artistic freedom as Reigl? Both of them, all of them, escaped from the harsh reality of Hungary, rebelled against prejudices about their skin colour or gender identity.

In 2019, eighty-three paintings by János Balázs from the collection were featured in a solo exhibition at the Műcsarnok, followed by a different selection three years later at the Hungarian Cultural Institute in Brussels and, in 2023, at the Szentandrássy Gallery in Budapest, which specialises in Roma art.[8] In 2025, an exhibition was opened at the same venue, featuring works from the collection by János Balázs in dialogue with those by Menyhért Tóth, on loan from the museum in Kecskemét.[9] A private collector thus undertakes a public mission, an artistic and social mission, along with the intellectual and material revaluation of the works in his possession.

The collection also seeks to present the art of László Drégely with the intention of re-evaluation and repositioning. From his oeuvre of several thousand works, Péter Horn focuses on those created in the 1960s, whose visionary world is not far from surrealism. Drégely, who worked as a set designer for theatre and film performances and for Hungarian Television, was diagnosed with a serious illness at a young age, and for him, creation represented the promise of eternity. Péter Horn is a manager-collector who not only seeks out established, secure values, but also experiences collecting as a form of self-realisation, where he can raise the status of the works he discovers, which are sometimes considered underrated, to a higher level of acceptance.[10]

He systematically collects a total of 18-20 artists, alongside other, no less prestigious creators – for example, the works of Sándor Molnár from his early period are among the highlights of the collection.[11] Beyond the depth of the collection, the two exhibition series organised around the paintings of Dezső Váli and János Balázs also demonstrate the intention to present the collection to the public and introduce it to a wider audience.

The Horn collection’s presence on social media is no less impressive. Since 2022, the collector has been posting one work a week on Instagram, using conscious online marketing to reach international target groups. With tens of thousands of followers, this is an achievement worthy of admiration even in the global context of art platforms. Through his weekly selections, the collector appears as a curator, and through his well-thought-out online distribution, he appears as a communicator and art mediator. The exhibition series and the post series together have almost elevated the collector to the status of an institution.[12]

This is even more true when we consider the artistic role played by the company he manages. The German-based, family-owned company, which is present in more than sixty countries around the world, provides a wide range of healthcare services. Its social responsibility focuses on three areas: sport, culture and healthcare, with a particular emphasis on art education and children’s sport in Hungary.[13] As they do not sell to the retail market but to hospitals and other customers, and advertising is prohibited in their industry for ethical reasons, they do not choose their sponsorship targets from a marketing perspective. The aim of their CSR campaigns is not to influence their customer base, but to seek a credible, lasting social impact for their own employees.

That is why they support the Autistic Art programme, purchasing works at its annual auctions based on employee votes: the works are displayed in their offices, creating a corporate collection. The jury honoured this patronage by awarding B.Braun the Art is Business Award in the large enterprise category in 2019, which was presented for the first time that year. Further recognition followed in 2024, when Péter Horn was presented with the Committed Citizen Award at the Forbes Magyar100 Gala.[14] At the end of 2025, Art is Business published a book presenting prominent figures in Hungarian art patronage, which features an interview with the collector.[15]

[16] https://blog.axioart.com/horn-peter-bevezetes-egy-gyujtemeny-tortenetebe/

[17] https://www.thespace.hu/hu/kozeppont-fele-hommage-a-reigl/

Over the past twenty-five years, Péter Horn has become one of the leading figures in the Hungarian collecting and art patronage scene. He had a family background in this field, as classical modern paintings hung on the walls at home and at one of his relatives’ houses, and his father took him to the Bizományi art gallery as a child, but he had to rediscover this intellectual heritage as an adult. As a young businessman, he was long preoccupied with the world of the stock market, and although he is still present there as an investor, in the 2000s he realised that he also wanted to surround himself with intangible assets.[16] Initially, he bought art from the first half of the 20th century at auctions, but from this milieu he has now only kept the works of Ödön Vaszkó. He has been present on the post-World War II and contemporary art market with great momentum and a consistent programme from the very beginning. In the third publication of Edge Communications’ series of booklets on contemporary private collectors, published in 2009, he featured with the focal points that still define the collection today.

The recent past has brought two new developments. Since he already owns a large number of outstanding works by the artists who are the focus of the collection, Péter Horn decided to open up new possibilities, such as young artists. The other change is his active role as an art manager on three fronts: exhibition series, online communication, and corporate patronage ranging from domestic professional journals to the support of art fairs.[17] This development story faithfully illustrates that creative art collectors are present in the art world not only with their money but also with their actions.