The government bought the painting from Hungarian-born American art collector Imre Pakh for 3 billion HUF (US$9.3m)
Munkácsy Mihály’s famous “Christ Trilogy” attracts tens of thousands of tourists to the Déri Museum in Debrecen every year. In 1930, when the museum opened its doors, it was an entire room named “Ecce Homo” where visitors could see all the 3 pieces of the Triology.
It was always a big loss when the museum had to return a piece of the Trilogy to its owner because the visitors loved to see them together.
Ecce Homo!, the third painting in the trilogy, was donated by Frigyes Déri to the state, and he only requested to exhibit it in Debrecen.
The second piece, the Christ Before Pilate was acquired from Canada’s Art Gallery of Hamilton for 5.7 million USD in 2015, with the support of the National Bank of Hungary’s program.
Gergely Gulyás, the head of the Prime Minister’s Office, announced at the press conference in January that the government bought the painting Mihály Munkácsy’s Golgotha from Hungarian-born American art collector Imre Pakh for 3 billion HUF (9.3m HUF)
Gulyás highlighted that the purchase means that all three pieces of Munkácsy’s famous “Christ Trilogy” are now owned by the Hungarian state, and can be seen in the Déri Museum in Debrecen.
