TORNYAI, János
(b. 1869, Hódmezővásárhely, d. 1936, Budapest)

The Artist's Mother in her Room

1905
Oil on canvas, 120 x 151 cm
Hungarian National Gallery, Budapest

The painter expanded the poorly furnished country cottage room, left out the superfluous details of the objects (a mirror, a framed picture, a cabinet), so the painting presents a wide tonality range in the rendering of the light coming through the door and the windows, and the dark room painted with earth colours. Tornyai started on his journey to "Hungarian Symbolism" with the figure of the old lady who is resting in a corner, almost apologetically drawn back. By the end of his journey he created excellent works that related to the poetry of Gyula Juhász and Endre Ady.