The Collection of Fine/Graphic Arts

The history of this collection goes back to the museum's establishment. In 1902, the exhibition in the newly built museum palace already had a separate showroom for applied- and fine arts. The picture gallery was composed of the portrait gallery about the county's illustrious people and of the presents from the Ministry of Religion and Education. The following years did not bring many new collection items, the whole set consisted of a couple hundred pieces. World War II meant a lot of damage also to this section, main part of the pictures and the registry was destroyed.
With the secularization of the castles and mansions in 1949, a new chapter began in the history of the collection. The 18-19th century paintings from mansions and public offices build the basis of the present collection. In the beginning of the 1950's, pictures of some painters born in Szekszárd, like János Boros Nepomuk (1808-1855), Ödön Miklósi M. (1881-1942) and Ákos Garay (1866 - 1952) got part of the exhibition.

The restoration and exhibition of the 18-19th century pictures accelerated from the mid 1980's. Most paintings were portraits about members of families from the higher and lower nobility. The fine colored, full portraits from 1780, about the members of the Apponyi family, made by the portrait and altar-piece painter, János Mertz are the finest pieces among these. The oldest painting of the portrait gallery is a 1746 picture about Antal Jeszenszky. Several pictures of the Csapó portrait gallery, established in the early 19th century, were made by Vilmos Egger (1792-1830), who is Swiss by birth. The gallery houses also a family portrait, which is a work of Izodor Neugass (1784-1847), who moved to Pest after working in Berlin and Vienna. Works of the well-known portrait painters, János Donát (1744-1830), Mihály Kovács (1819-1892) and Alajos Györgyi Giergl (1821-1863) are visible in the female portrait session.

In Tolna Comitatus, the setting up of the lord lieutenant's gallery started on the proposal of Dániel Csapó, around 1830. This collection was later completed with portraits of the county's prominent people, made by Vilmos Egger (1792-1830), József Pesky (1795-1862), Alajos Györgyi Giergl (1821-1863), Miklós Barabás (1810-1898), Mór Than (1828-1899), György Vastagh (1834-1922), Ede Balló (1859-1936), Ferenc Paczka (1856-1925) among others. Besides the portraits we also keep paintings of biblical and mythological subject, landscape and genre paintings in smaller numbers, but with notable importance.

In the second part of the 20th century, the collection was expanded almost only with contemporary art works. The aim was to document mainly the artwork of the county and the workmanship of artists stemming from here. In 2002, the female artist, Arany Bazsonyi (1928), born in Tolna County, gave 207 pieces from her paintings and graphics as a present to the museum.