Who Will Roll the Stone Away for Us? – A Selection of Works by Béla Kondor

The exhibition will be opened by: András Rényi, art historian

With the participation of:

Sára Tímár, Junior Prima Prize-winning singer

Mihály Borbély, Kossuth Prize-winning musician

On view until 22 May 2026.

“Who will roll the stone away for us?” (Mk 16:3)

One of the defining questions of human existence is the one spoken by the women hurrying to the Easter tomb. An obstacle rolled into place—since “the stone… was very large”—which sealed and closed off that which signifies passing and finitude. This biblical scene expresses that human drama.

It is as if Béla Kondor formulates the same thought in his poem: “…With the warmth of your human gaze soften the heavy-fitted grin that has grown cold upon me.” (Two Supplications, excerpt). “Who will carry love across?” asks his friend, the poet László Nagy. If there is no answer, life remains trapped beneath the unavoidable obstacle.

The stone is often too large, reality all too true, while a host of angels surrounds Kondor’s sensitive world, and behind his works the question of Jesus seems to shine through: “Is not life more…?” (Mt 6:25)

Kondor’s art is powerfully permeated by the constant presence of depth and height, by the attractive force of extreme poles. His surreal world—its figures, winged beings, structures, and symbols—seems firmly grounded in the struggling decades of the twentieth century: they pull him toward the earth so that he cannot detach from its harsh reality, yet he still knows that angelic wings embrace him. The sixteen creative years granted to him have remained for us as a rich and dynamic oeuvre.

He heeded the advice of William Blake—“I must Create a System, or be enslav’d by another Mans”*—for Kondor truly created his own system, lived it, and left behind works born in the freedom of being untouched by artistic “isms.”

He learned from the old masters—Dürer, Bosch, Blake, and Rembrandt—and in time he himself became a master. His person and legacy stand as a prominently elevated point in the history of Hungarian fine art.

The exhibition presents Béla Kondor’s works—etchings and paintings—borrowed from museums across the country and from three private collections, offering a glimpse into his rich oeuvre. It invites visitors to pause and confront the exhibition’s title in such a way that it does not remain unanswered: “the stone has been rolled away.” For the question has encountered the divine answer—this is what the Easter story is about.

Jerusalem—The Emanation of the Giant Albion: Chapter One, Plate 10 – “I must create a system, or be enslaved by another man’s…” (Ádám Galambos, The Last Icon Painter, Tiszatáj Online, 19.05.2017.)