Landscape in the Alföld with Young Men 1906

Curator: "Landscape in the Alföld with Young Men," painted in 1906 by Bertalan Pór. It is oil on canvas, a plein-air study of the Hungarian landscape. Editor: It has this wonderfully unsettled feeling. The palette is bright, yes, but there's a deliberate roughness in the application of paint that prevents any sense of calm. See how the colors almost vibrate against each other? Curator: Pór, at this time, was deeply involved with the artists' colony in Szolnok, a hub for modern Hungarian art. This painting represents the influence of French Impressionism filtering through the lens of Hungarian national identity. The Alföld, the Great Hungarian Plain, carries immense cultural significance. Editor: I am taken by the way the composition pushes and pulls. The eye wants to travel to the horizon, but these somewhat stolid, roughly-hewn trees act as visual barriers. Note the almost geometrical composition; that’s definitely at odds with pure impressionistic fluidity. Curator: These rural landscapes spoke to the cultural elites seeking to define a modern Hungarian identity rooted in its folk traditions and agrarian values. While industrialization was rapidly changing Hungary, there was also a drive to idealize rural life, one that can be found in paintings like these, that offered an alternative to modernity. Editor: Exactly. But I would push further on what the planes and structures of color evoke, irrespective of his intention to portray his Hungarian homeland. Consider the formal dynamism created by the interplay of the muted sky and ochre ground. It evokes a visual restlessness. There’s no stable focal point, which disrupts a passive viewing. Curator: I am not so sure. There is undoubtedly an idealization of Hungarian nature, typical of many landscapes created in Hungary at this time, but these competing notions create an interesting tension that the painting embodies. Editor: Perhaps we can meet somewhere in the middle there. Whether consciously created or not, formally and visually this piece still provides something that many more standard landscapes don't. Curator: A provocative and historically rich view on display from Bertalan Pór, reminding us how national identity projects intertwined with artistic movements like Impressionism. Editor: A visually turbulent slice of Hungarian landscape from the early 20th century, defying conventional readings by creating a viewing experience both formally interesting and unsettling.