All over Budapest, particularly around District VII, striking murals enliven the urban scenery. Many have Hungarian themes: Rubik’s Cube, Habsburg empress Elisabeth and the famous 6:3 football victory of 1953, to name but three in one street.
Some were created by students of Budapest’s renowned university of art and design, MOME, others by international artists invited to take part in what was the annual Színes Város (‘Colourful City’) event. Each year would have its own theme, gastronomy, and so on.
The concept came from Victor Vasarely, a Hungarian designer influenced by the Bauhaus movement of a century ago, who then earned global fame as an artist in France. He envisioned cities where art would feature around public spaces rather than being limited to galleries and museums.
This idea then inspired Színes Város, whose first work honoured Vasarely in 2010. See how the original mural took shape in this video.
And now it’s been painted over.
In its place, to mark Budapest’s role as 2019 European Capital of Sport, is a tribute to Hungary’s great Olympic heroes such as water-polo player Dezső Gyarmati and swimmer Krisztina Egerszegi.
The painting is not the first to promote sport in town – in 2018 we reported on the unveiling of a new mural at Krisztina körút 30 in District I.
