István Réti

István Réti (26 December 1872 – 17 January 1945) was a Hungarian painter, professor, art historian and leading member, as well as a founder and theoretician, of the Nagybánya artists' colony, located in what is present-day Baia Mare, Romania. In addition, he served as president of the Hungarian University of Fine Arts (1927-1931) and (1932-1935).

The artists' colony and its school were considered very influential in Hungarian and Romanian art; in 1966 the Hungarian National Gallery had a major exhibition of their work: The Art of Nagybánya. Centennial Exhibition in Celebration of the Artists' Colony in Nagybánya.

István Réti was born in Nagybánya (since 1918 known as Baia Mare, Romania). In 1890 at the age of 18, he began his studies at the Budapest School of Drawing in 1890 but left after a month.

In 1891 he went to Munich, where he studied with Simon Hollósy, a young Hungarian painter who had established free classes, as he objected to the technical training at the more conservative Munich Academy. Réti met other young artists here who became part of his circle when they returned to Hungary. Later Réti also studied in Paris at the Académie Julian, to which many other painters were attracted from Hungary.

Returning to Nagybánya, Réti painted his first significant work, Bohémek karácsonyestje idegenben (Christmas Night of the Bohemians Abroad) (1893). This nostalgic lamplit interior, typical of the period, was exhibited at the Palace of Art in Budapest and purchased by the state.

In 1894 Réti travelled to Turin, Italy. There he painted Kossuth Lajos a ravatalon ("Lajos Kossuth on His Bier"); the revolutionary had just died there. Réti was attracted by the work of Jules Bastien-Lepage. During an 1895 trip to Paris, he learned about the work of Pierre Puvis de Chavannes.

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