József Egry Memorial Museum

József Egry was a famous painter from the early 20th century who lived and painted most of his works in Badacsony. His main theme was Lake Balaton and light play, it is said that there is no angle which he hasn't painted Lake Balaton from. His old studio in Badacsony operates as a museum today, where we can not only see his best work, but we can also see the old workshop and furniture as well.

On the Egry promenade in Badacsony, you will find the villa of painter József Egry, which has been a museum since 1973. Egry was obsessed with Lake Balaton and is also known as 'the painter of Lake Balaton'. He painted the lake's infinite waters, the steamy lights of Lake Balaton and the view towards Fonyód from almost every angle and at almost every time of day. His art is an unmatched phenomenon, no painter has similiar works.

In his converted and extended studio house in Badacsony, we can see a rich selection of his main works, but we can also get to know his whole life's work. József Egry was a great personality in the history of twentieth-century Hungarian painting, creating radiant masterpieces. Through his paintings, we are influenced by the prophetic power of art: we have seen the crescent-shaped bay of Badacsony, the double peaks of Fonyod, the opalescent colours of the lake - we see the world through Egry's eyes differently.

"Lake Balaton shows only its exernal banality to those painters who are not concerned with its intrinsic value... You cannot make a school out of Lake Balaton. You cannot mould it into a common mural. Those who only know Lake Balaton partially, and not as a whole, can never really comprehend its true value... I do not paint Lake Balaton; I paint its world!"