Hungary 10,000 forint 2014. Centennial death of painter Béla Spányi. Silver proof

Béla Spányi was born on March 19, 1852 in Pest and died on June 12, 1914 in Budapest. His life’s work was focused entirely on landscape painting. According to Károly Lyka, “... he belonged to that group of Hungarian painters who – inspired by the truth – faithfully sat down outdoors and explored all the beauty of nature.” There are few painters able to express their feelings and moods through their works as he was.  Spányi’s creative genius was his combination of seemingly insignificant natural landscapes with a very well-defined mood.

He studied in Vienna,  Paris and Munich. His early works are marked by an objective style, with moody elements, fine attention to detail and excellent composition. In the late 1880s, he returned to Hungary. By that stage, he was painting puddles, rotting trees, and marshy, lonely landscapes, with a melancholic style and mother-of-pearl grey tones, influenced by the French naturalists. In 1893, he created five large frescos of landscapes with Hungarian castles in the Hunters’ Hall of the Parliament. The coin bears a portrait of the young painter on the front. A landscape inspired by Spányi is found on the back: the two-dimensional landscape in the rectangular center portion continues in relief around the edges.

Denomination    10000 forint     
Metal &  Fineness    Silver .925  
Total weight    24 g   
Diameter    37 mm      
Issue limit    3,000 pcs Proof     
Designer               Enikő Szöllossy