Turn-of-the-century winter mood comes through

Emese Koltai grew up in the city centre of Budapest and somehow got it into her head that she would become a painter. With the encouragement of her teachers and family, she applied for admission to the University of Fine Arts but was rejected even though a couple of teachers noted that she had submitted very good pictures.

The rejection did not discourage her, instead spurring even greater efforts to study in this direction. She checked out the Academia die Bella Arti College of Fine Arts in Rovenna, Italy, and moved there before being successfully admitted and graduating from this wonderful school as a scholarship recipient of the Soros Foundation.

Koltai’s paintings reflect the Italian sunshine, cheerfulness and the dolce vita feeling. She planned a big exhibition before Covid but the pandemic prevented it.

The exhibition in the Gallery of Young Artists offers completely new material, with a happy turn-of-the-century winter mood.

The painter is always renewing herself, looking for new themes and motivations, and we can see this in the exhibition, which runs until January 31, 2023.

Even though it shows winter before the turn of the century, every visitor can find the sunny Italian dolce vita in the pictures.