More recently, the painting by Tivadar Kostka Chontvari " old fisherman”, written by him in 1902 by means of specular reflection alternately, the left and right parts of the picture create two completely different images - God in a boat against the backdrop of a calm lake, or the Devil on a volcano and stormy waters behind.
After opening this fact, the recognition of the creativity of the author of the picture was approached differently. But what did Tivadar Chontvari want to say with his work? Many suspected the connection of the artist's work with mysticism and with great zeal began to study the heritage of the Hungarian painter.
Until recently, only a few who are interested in painting, in particular, expressionism and primitivism, knew the name of the Hungarian artist Tivadar Kostka Chontvary. About the painter who died in poverty almost 100 years ago, who, moreover, was considered crazy (some researchers of his biography think that Tivadar was ill with schizophrenia), quite recently many started talking.
The fact is that one of the employees of the city museum in Pec, examining the painting by Tivadar Chontvari "The Old Fisherman", discovered that if you divide the canvas in half with a mirror, you get two different images!
This detail interested not only many art historians, but also ordinary people. They started talking about the secret mysticism of the work, the attitude towards creative heritage Hungarian self-taught. In Russia, interest in this fact grew after the release of the program “What? Where? When?" dated October 1, 2011, during which the viewer, with a question about the painting "The Old Fisherman", managed to beat the connoisseurs.
Most plausible version regarding the idea embedded in the picture is an opinion about the dualistic nature human nature, which Tivadar wanted to convey. A person spends his whole life in a constant struggle between two principles: male and female, good and evil, intuitive and logical. These are the ingredients of life. Like the god and the devil in the Chontwari painting, they complement each other, without one there is no other.
"Old fisherman" as the embodiment of a lived life and human wisdom with the help of simple reception shows how bad and good, good and evil, god and devil harmonize in each of us. And to balance them is the task of each person.
In our online store you can purchase a reproduction mysterious picture and create this masterpiece yourself.
Easter eggs from Tivadar Kostka Chontvari
"Easter eggs" - hidden hints, jokes
and riddles in books, films, paintings.
This is a painting by Tivadar Kostka Chontvari called "The Old Fisherman". At first sight
there is nothing particularly remarkable in it, as, however, art critics also considered, but
it was once suggested that it depicts God and the devil.
In 1902 Hungarian artist Tivadar Kostka Chontvari paints the painting "Old Fisherman".
It would seem that there is nothing unusual in the picture, but Tivadar laid a hidden subtext in it,
during the life of the artist and undisclosed. Few people thought to apply a mirror
towards the middle of the picture. Every person can be like God (the right shoulder is duplicated
Old man), and the Devil (the left shoulder of the old man is duplicated)
God, with a calm sea at your back.
And the devil with raging passions.
The most plausible version of the idea embedded in the picture is the opinion
about the dualistic nature of human nature, which Tivadar wanted to convey. All
a person spends his life in a constant struggle of two principles: male and female, good and
evil, intuitive and logical. These are the ingredients of life. Like god and devil on
picture of Chontwari, they complement each other, without one there is no other.
"Old fisherman" as the embodiment of a lived life and human wisdom with the help of a simple
reception shows how bad and good, good and evil harmonize in each of us, God
and the devil. And to balance them is the task of each person.
self-portrait
Tivadar Kostka was born on July 5, 1853, in the mountain village of Kishseben, which belonged to
Austria (now Sabinov, Slovakia) - Hungarian self-taught artist.
His father Lasli Kostka was a doctor and pharmacist. Tivadar and his five brothers grew up in
atmosphere saturated with the spirit of pharmacology. Future artist from childhood knew what would become
pharmacist. But before becoming one, he changed many professions—he worked as a sales clerk,
for some time he attended lectures at the Faculty of Law, and only then studied pharmacology.
Once, he was already 28 years old, while in a pharmacy, he grabbed a pencil and drew
on the prescription form, a simple scene he saw from the window - a passing cart,
pulled by buffaloes. Was this the beginning of the schizophrenia he suffered from afterwards,
but since then the dream of becoming an artist has taken over him.
He goes to Rome, then to Paris, where he meets a famous Hungarian artist
Mihai Munkacsy (by the way, he also ended his life in a psychiatric hospital). And then
returns to his homeland, and for fourteen years he works in a pharmacy, trying to achieve
material independence. Having accumulated a small capital, he goes to study first in Munich,
and then to Paris.
Study did not bring him satisfaction. And so in 1895 he went on a trip
in Italy to paint landscapes. Traveled throughout Greece North Africa And
Middle East.
In 1900 he changed his surname Kostka to the pseudonym Chontvari.
Already in 1907 and 1910 solo exhibitions were held in Paris, but they did not bring him
recognition. His paintings did not receive recognition in Hungary either, and the author had a reputation
crazy.
In 1910, the period of creation ended. The attacks of the disease became more and more severe.
He drew very rarely now, only sketches of his surrealistic visions.
IN last years he wrote books: the pamphlet "Energy and Art, the Mistakes of a Civilized
of man” and the study “Genius. Who can and who cannot be a genius.
During his lifetime, the artist did not sell any of his paintings.
Last main picture A Shore Trip was written in Naples in 1909.
On June 20, 1919, the artist Chontvari died, as they say, of arthritis.
Relatives, consulted with experts, they assured them of full artistic
failure of Tivadar as an artist, and soon the paintings were put up for auction
not as works of art, but as pieces of canvas. Random collector (random
whether?) bought all the paintings in bulk for a meager amount that satisfied the short-sighted (or all
or deceived) nephews.
It seems to me that the fates of the Hungarian artist Chontvari (Tivadar Kostka) and the Georgian classic Niko Pirosmani () are in many ways similar, except that Chontvari did not have an all-consuming love for Margarita. He was also not recognized during his lifetime, he was also reputed to be crazy and died in poverty in the same way ... However, first things first.
Landscape at sunset, 1899
Franz Liszt - Hungarian Rhapsody(Spanish Denis Matsuev)
Tivadar Kostka Chontvari was born in 1853 in the small Hungarian village of Kishseben. His father Laszlo Kostka was a doctor and pharmacist. Tivadar and his five brothers knew from childhood that they would continue their father's work. But before studying pharmacology, Kostka graduated from a gymnasium in the city of Ungvar (now Uzhgorod), worked for some time as a sales employee, then attended lectures at the Faculty of Law, only then became a pharmacist and worked for him for fourteen years.
East Station at night, 1902
Tivadar began his career as an artist in 1880. One autumn day, while working in a pharmacy, he looked out the window, mechanically picked up a pencil, a prescription form, and began to draw. It was not something abstract - a cart passing by was captured on paper. The owner of the pharmacy, seeing the picture, praised Chontvari, saying that the artist was born only today. Later, already at the end of his life, Tivadar himself, in his autobiography, written in his characteristic mystical and prophetic manner, describing what had happened, said that he had a vision. It was this that prompted Tivadar his destiny - to become a great painter.
Mount of Olives in Jerusalem, 1905
To begin with, Tivadar left family business father and opened his own pharmacy in the town of Gac in northern Hungary. For ten years he continued to work in a pharmacy in order to achieve financial independence and accumulate the capital necessary for creativity. In parallel, he began to draw stuffed animals, draw figures of people. Already in the spring of 1881, Kostka collected money to go to Italy and see the paintings of Raphael. In his notes after visiting the Vatican Museum, he wrote: “I did not see wildlife there, Raphael does not have the sun that I aspire to ...”
Blossoming almond ( Italian landscape), ca. 1901
Chontvari began painting only in the mid-1890s, in 1894 he left the pharmacy to the brothers and arrived in Munich in March. In many sources, the artist is called self-taught, but he studied painting, and with good teachers. In Munich, Kostka goes to study at the private art school of his compatriot, the famous Hungarian artist Shimon Hollosi, who was ten years younger than his student. They were brought together by the idea put forward by Hollossy that "Hungarian art can become truly national only on native soil, under the Hungarian sky, in communion with the resurgent people."
Highland Street (Houses), c.1895
In the "Munich period" Kostka painted portraits, moreover, they note that they show "a feeling of sadness, hopelessness, they are knocked out of the canvas of his work." They say that when the artist painted a portrait of the famous Munich sitter Wertmuller, he, looking at the work, exclaimed: “I have been posing for almost seventeen years, but no one has ever managed to draw me like that!”. By the way, it was during the period of study that the artist painted several portraits, later he ceased to be interested in this genre.
Woman seated by a window, 1890s
After Munich, Tivadar continued his studies in Karlsruhe in the studio of the artist Friedrich Kallmorgen. Historians note that at that time the artist lived comfortably, because he bought expensive Belgian canvases for his paintings. The only “inconvenience” was that the artist brought paintings rolled up from trips, the paint laid in a thick layer often cracked, and Tivadar had to periodically restore his works. He also made trips to Rome and Paris.
Fishing in Castellammare, 1901
Study did not bring satisfaction to Tivadar. The artist ignored all the rules of art, with his paintings he challenged attempts to consider him as a naive painter. In 1895, the artist traveled to Dalmatia and Italy, where he painted landscapes, which must have included water, fire and earth. This can be seen in one of the famous works artist called "Castellamare di Stabia". This is the name of the city near Naples, which arose on the site of the ancient Stabiae, destroyed on August 24, 79 by the eruption of Vesuvius, along with Pompeii and Herculaneum. On the site of the ancient settlement, the Italian town of Castellammare di Stabia is located, which is translated from Italian as "a small Stabian fortress by the sea." The artist depicted on the right in the picture - a sunny city street along which a donkey-drawn cart moves, but on the left - a restless sea before an impending storm and Vesuvius smoking in the distance.
Castellammare di Stabia, 1902
In addition to Italy and France, the artist traveled to Greece, North Africa and the Middle East. In Greece, for example, were written large paintings"The ruins of the Greek Theater in Taormina" (1904-1905) and "Temple of Jupiter in the ruins of Athens" (1904). In 1900, Tivadar changed his surname Kostka to the pseudonym Chontwari.
Ruin Greek theater in Taormina, 1904-1905
Altogether, Chontwari painted over a hundred paintings and over twenty drawings. The main ones are close in style to expressionism and were created in 1903-1908. For example, in 1906 it was written huge picture"Baalbek" - 7 x 4 meters. This is one of the "program" works of the artist, in which he tried to depict his "city of the sun". Art historians write: “The past and the present are here together. Life - was, there were ruins, there was a memory. Life exists, it continues: lazy camels are walking somewhere and people are walking.”
Baalbek, 1906
In 1907, Chontwari's paintings were exhibited at International exhibition in Paris, in 1908 - in the Art Gallery in Budapest. In Paris, a well-known American art critic wrote about Chontvary's paintings - "they left behind everything that hitherto existed in painting." But neither such an assessment of creativity, nor the subsequent exhibition at home brought the artist either fame or recognition.
Lonely cedar, 1907
In 1907-1908, Chontwari traveled to Lebanon, where he wrote symbolic paintings- "The Lonely Cedar", "The Pilgrimage to the Lebanese Cedars" and "The Well of the Virgin Mary in Nazareth". In the last of these paintings, the artist depicted himself in a man pouring water from a jug for a donkey and goats.
Mary's Well in Nazareth, 1908
Chontvari's canvases were also exhibited in other European countries in 1908 and 1910, but they also did not add to his fame and recognition, which the artist so sincerely hoped for. In addition (and this was the most offensive!), The artist's work was not recognized at home. In Hungary, Chontváry had a reputation for being a lunatic due to his eccentric behavior, ascetic lifestyle, and tendency to fall into a prophetic tone when communicating.
View of Banska Stiavnica on the horizon, 1902
last picture artist - "Horse ride by the sea" (it is often translated from Hungarian as "Walk along the coast"), was written in Naples in 1909. In the same year, the picture was shown on world exhibition in Paris, and after almost half a century, in 1958, this work was awarded the Grand Prize at the exhibition "50 years contemporary art» in Brussels.
Horse ride by the sea, 1909
In 1910, Chontvary practically stopped painting, because the attacks of the disease became more and more severe. True, historians note that there were attempts to write something new, but the artist never completed a single work. He never started a family and only occasionally communicated with his sister (nothing is known about the fate of his brothers). Chontvari was engaged in the restoration of old works and still dreamed of a big exhibition in his homeland, after which he would be truly appreciated.
Waterfall Schaffhausen, 1903
The artist was going to open his own gallery where he could show pictures, he even drew a draft of this gallery. He led an ascetic life, eating only fruits and vegetables. Until the end of his life, he remained a supporter of the monarchy and a great admirer of the Emperor of Austria and since 1848 King of Hungary Franz Joseph I. Chontvary even painted a portrait of the emperor, and legend has it that when Franz Joseph caught a cold, the artist sent him a telegram in which he outlined recommendations: what to take, when and how.
City by the sea, c.1902
In the last years of his life, Chontwari also took up literary activity, he wrote the pamphlet "Energy and Art, Mistakes civilized man"and the study" Genius. Who can and who cannot be a genius. Historians emphasize that Chontvari was an egocentric person, difficult to communicate with, until the end of his life he remained convinced of his messianic destiny. It is worth noting that during his lifetime the artist did not sell any of his paintings. Chontvari died in 1919 in Budapest at the age of sixty and was buried in the Kerepesi cemetery.
Spring in Mostar, 1903
After the death of Chontvari, his sister wanted to sell the paintings, she turned to museum workers, and they assured her that the paintings were of no value. But the sister decided that even though the paintings are “daub”, but the canvases can cost money. Therefore, she wrote an advertisement for the sale of all her brother's paintings. In many sources it is written that the paintings were bought in bulk by an unknown collector, but later the name of the person became known, thanks to which one can see the paintings of Chontvari in the museums of Hungary today. This is the architect Gedeon Gerlotsi. And the story of practically saving paintings is simply fantastic.
Shipwreck, 1903
Gerlotsi, after graduating from the Academy, was looking for where to rent an apartment in Budapest. One day he was walking along the street where the Chontvari workshop was located, saw an advertisement for the sale of paintings and one of them leaning against the wall. Later, Gerlotsi recalled that when he was passing by the house, the painting fell from a gust of wind. It was the famous "Lonely Cedar". The next day, Gerlotsi bought up all the paintings, setting a price slightly higher than the junk dealer present at the sale. For many years, Gerlotsi kept the paintings rolled up in a chest. When the architect began teaching at the School of Fine Arts in Budapest, he moved and placed the largest canvases there. In 1949, Gerlotsi took Chontvari's paintings to participate in exhibitions in Paris and Brussels.
Blooming almonds in Taormina, c.1902
On the grave of Chontvari there is a monument - a bronze artist with a brush in his left hand. Its history is also interesting. According to Hungarian laws, if, after 50 years after death, relatives do not pay for the cemetery workers to continue to monitor the grave, then the remains of the deceased are reburied in a common grave. Even during his lifetime, Chontvari's relatives considered him an "out of this world" eccentric who draws incomprehensibly. The heirs did not deal with the grave, historians and museum workers also did not study his work, so the artist’s remains ended up in a common grave in 1970. But by coincidence, it was from the beginning of the 1970s that interest in the artist’s legacy began to grow, and therefore in 1979, on the 60th anniversary of the artist’s death, this bronze monument was placed at the Kerepeshi cemetery, and a copy of it was installed in front of the open one six years earlier in Pec the artist's museum.
Monument at the grave of Chontvari
For the appearance of the museum, one must thank its director Zoltan Fülöp, who was an admirer of Chontvari's work and collected his paintings. The Chontwari Museum is housed in a two-story mansion built in the nineteenth century. Gerlotsi handed over almost his entire collection of Chontvari paintings to Fülöp, and two years after the opening of the museum, the architect died. Historians note that although he created many buildings in the capital of Hungary, he entered the history of Hungarian art as a man who saved the legacy of Chontvari.
At the entrance to the Wailing Wall in Jerusalem, 1904
The main works of the artist, of course, are exhibited in the Hungarian national gallery. Along with those that are in the permanent exhibition of the artist's museum in the city of Pécs, there are almost 130 of them. About 25 paintings by the artist were found by historians in private collections. Many works disappeared during the Second World War, some, on the contrary, were found in an unexpected way. They say that a person who bought back in late XIX century pharmacy Chontvari, found there a few abandoned drawings and paintings and put it all in the attic, in the middle of the twentieth century they were found in Berlin.
Waterfall in the Egg, 1903
Until recently, only a few who are interested in painting knew the name of Tivadar Kostka (Chontvari). About the painter who died in poverty almost 100 years ago, who, moreover, was considered crazy, was talked about quite recently. The fact is that one of the employees of the city museum in Pécs, examining the painting “The Old Fisherman” (1902), discovered that if you divide the canvas in half with a vertical mirror, you get two different images! It turns out that the picture depicts not just an old fisherman, but the Lord himself in the form of a white-bearded old man, behind whom rises a mountain and a calm sea, and at the same time Satan the Devil against the backdrop of storm waves. This detail interested not only many art historians, but also ordinary people. They started talking about the secret mysticism of the work, the attitude towards the creative heritage of the Hungarian artist was revised.
Old fisherman, 1902
Here is a century and a half history associated with one of the most original Hungarian painters. Of course, one can argue about his work, one can criticize or not accept it, but it seems to me that even a simple amateur layman, having looked at Chontvari’s paintings, will say: “There is something in them!”
Roman bridge in Mostar, 1903
Zrinyi launches the final attack, 1903
Temple Square overlooking the Dead Sea, Jerusalem, 1906
The Great Tarpatak Valley in the Tatras
Company crossing the bridge, 1904
Coaching in Athens at New Moon, 1904
Unknown to anyone during his lifetime, the artist Tivadar Kostka Chontvari, a century after his death, suddenly became famous thanks to his painting “The Old Fisherman”. The master himself was confident in his messianic destiny, although his contemporaries called it schizophrenia. Now hidden symbols and veiled allusions are being sought in his paintings. Are they there? One of these works, which have undergone a comprehensive analysis, is the painting "The Old Fisherman".
Unrecognized artist
In 1853, the future painter was born in the Hungarian village of Kishseben. The fate of Tivadar and his five brothers was predetermined from childhood. They were trained to continue their father's work. And the parent was a pharmacist and had medical practice. But before taking up pharmacology, the young man managed to graduate from high school, work as a sales clerk, learn law faculty. And after all this, he turned to the family business. Arriving at the pharmacy, Tivadar worked there for fourteen long years.
Once, when he was 28, on a normal working day, he grabbed a prescription form and a pencil and sketched out a plot: a cart that was passing by a window at that moment, with buffalo harnessed to it. Before that, he did not show a penchant for drawing, but later in his autobiography he wrote that on that day he had a vision that prophesied the fate of the great painter.
By the spring of 1881, Tivadar Kostka opened his pharmacy in the northern part of Hungary and saved enough money to travel to Italy. Like all young artists, he dreamed of seeing the masterpieces of the old masters. He was especially attracted to the paintings of Raphael. I must say that later he was disappointed in the idol, not finding in nature on his canvases the proper liveliness and sincerity. After Rome, Kostka goes to Paris, and then to his homeland.
Seriously engaged in painting Chontvari (such a pseudonym in 1900 the artist took for himself) began in the mid-1890s. He leaves his pharmacy to the brothers and comes to Munich to study painting. In many sources, Kostka is called self-taught, but meanwhile he studied at art school his famous compatriot, more successful in the field of art - Shimon Kholoshi. The teacher was almost ten years younger than his student.
In Munich, Chontvari creates several portraits. The print of sadness on the faces of the models sets them apart in relation to the more cheerful rest of his work. He paints natural portraits only during his studies, later losing interest in this. After leaving Munich, the artist goes to Karlsruhe, where he continues to take lessons, now from Kallmorgen. Biographers of the artist say that he lived comfortably at that time, buying for work best canvases Belgian production.
Last years
Studying did not bring satisfaction to Chontvari. It seemed that he comprehended the laws of painting only to break them. In 1895, he again went to Italy to work in nature in his favorite landscape genre. The artist visits not only Italy, but also France, Greece, the Middle East and Lebanon.
In 1907-1910, several personal exhibitions in Paris, Budapest and at home. They do not bring him special fame, although some critics speak very favorably. In Hungary, the artist is generally spoken of as crazy. It is no secret that he suffered from bouts of schizophrenia, but still hoped for the recognition of his compatriots.
By 1910, the disease began to progress. The attacks became more and more difficult, the work was difficult. Chontwari hardly writes anymore, making only small sketches. He did not complete any work, although he made attempts. At the age of sixty, the artist died in Budapest, where he was buried.
creative heritage
More than one hundred and fifty paintings and drawings were left by Tivadar Kostka Chontvari. The painting "The Old Fisherman", written in 1902, is perhaps the most famous of all, "significant". Most of the work was created in short period between 1903 and 1909. It was creative flourishing an artist, a flash of genius. In their style, they are akin to expressionism. His work is also credited with the features of symbolism, post-impressionism and even surrealism.
Posthumous recognition
After the death of Chontvari, his works survived only by a miracle. The sister turned to the appraisers to find out how much they could get for the paintings. They assured her that their artistic value is zero. Then the woman reasoned that if the paintings are bad, then the canvases, at least, will be useful to someone. And put them up for sale. All the work was taken by the architect Gedeon Gerlotsi, outbidding the price of the junk dealer. Later he placed the canvases at the Budapest School of Fine Arts, and in 1949 he exhibited them in Belgium and France.
Before his death, the architect gave his collection to Zoltan Fülep, the future director of the Chontvari Museum. It was already a success. But the artist would have remained known only to a narrow circle of admirers in his homeland, if, almost a century after his death, one of the museum workers had not discovered a certain secret that the painting “Old Fisherman” still kept. Since then, the name of Chontvari, who did not sell a single painting during his lifetime, has become known throughout the world.
"Old fisherman": a description of the painting
Almost the entire space of the canvas is occupied by the figure of an elderly man. The gale ruffles his hair and old worn clothes. On the fisherman - a black blouse, gray beret and a raincoat. He leans on a staff and looks straight at the viewer. His face is rough-skinned and covered with a frequent network of wrinkles. In the background, the artist has placed the bay. Waves break on the shore, thick smoke comes out of the chimneys of houses on the shore. On the horizon are mountains, or rather their silhouettes, hidden by a milky fog. In relation to the figure of the fisherman, the landscape is secondary and plays the role of a background.
The painting “The Old Fisherman” by Chontvari is solved in a restrained range of colors, muted soft colors prevail: dove, gray, sand, shades of brown.
The mystery of the painting "The Old Fisherman"
What discovery did the employee of the museum make? Let's break the intrigue: he discovered that if you close half of the canvas and reflect the rest symmetrically, you get a completely finished piece of art. And it works in both cases: both on the right and on the left side of the picture. This is the secret that the painting “Old Fisherman” kept for almost a hundred years. Photos of the mounted halves can now be easily found on the Internet. The reflection of the right half is a handsome old man, whitened with gray hairs, against the background of the sea surface. If we reflect the left side, we will see a man in a pointed hat with slanting eyes and raging waves behind him.
Interpretation
The painting "The Old Fisherman" marked the beginning of the search for mystical hints in the works of Chontvari. Added fuel to the fire and the fact that during his lifetime the artist often switched to a prophetic tone. This canvas is usually interpreted as a symbol of dual human nature: both light and dark halves, good and evil coexist in one man. She is sometimes also referred to as "God and the Devil", again reflecting her dualism.
Truly, the success story of Tivadar Kostka Chontvari is an example of a series of happy accidents (or great destiny who appeared to him in visions, who knows?). The painting "The Old Fisherman" - genius and madness - ironically became his key to world fame. Unfortunately, recognition did not come to him during his lifetime. But today Chontvari is considered one of the best and most original artists of Hungary.
Until recently, only a few who are interested in painting, in particular, expressionism and primitivism, knew the name of the Hungarian artist Tivadar Kostka Chontvary. About the painter who died in poverty almost 100 years ago, who, moreover, was considered crazy (some researchers of his biography think that Tivadar was ill with schizophrenia), quite recently many started talking.
The fact is that one of the employees of the city museum in Pec, examining the painting by Tivadar Chontvari "The Old Fisherman", discovered that if you divide the canvas in half with a mirror, you get two different images! This detail interested not only many art historians, but also ordinary people. They started talking about the secret mysticism of the work, the attitude towards the creative heritage of the Hungarian self-taught was revised. In Russia, interest in this fact grew after the release of the program “What? Where? When?" dated October 1, 2011, during which the viewer, with a question about the painting "The Old Fisherman", managed to beat the connoisseurs.
Unrecognized artist
Tivadar Kostka Chontvari was born in 1853 in the small Hungarian village of Kishseben. His father was a doctor and pharmacist, was interested in science, was a staunch opponent of alcohol and tobacco, and vehemently advocated their ban. Elementary education Tivadar received here, but after a fire in 1866 he moved to his mother's relatives in Uzhgorod. After graduating high school, worked as a trader's assistant in Presov.
From his father, Laszlo, young Tivadar Chontwari inherited an interest in pharmacology. As a result, he received a pharmaceutical education at the University of Budapest, and later studied law and worked as a clerk for the deputy mayor of the capital. During his studies, he was respected by other students, was elected head of the student organization, participated in the strikes of 1879.
Tivadar began his career as an artist in 1880. One autumn day, while working in a pharmacy, he looked out the window, mechanically picked up a pencil, a prescription form, and began to draw. It was not something abstract - a cart passing by was captured on paper. The owner of the pharmacy, seeing the picture, praised Chontvari, saying that the artist was born only today. Later, already at the end of his life, Tivadar himself, in his autobiography, written in his characteristic mystical and prophetic manner, describing what had happened, said that he had a vision. It was this that prompted Tivadar his destiny - to become a great painter.
Since that time, Tivadar Kostka began to travel in order to get acquainted with the work of great artists. He traveled to the Vatican and Paris. Then he returned to Hungary, opened his own pharmacy and devoted himself completely to work in order to gain financial independence and do what he was, in his opinion, born for. Tivadar painted his first picture in 1893. A year later, he went to Germany (Munich, Karlsruhe, Düsseldorf) and France (Paris) to study drawing. However, the newly minted artist quickly got tired of this, and in 1895 he went on a trip to Italy, Greece, the Middle East and Africa to paint local landscapes. Over time, he began to sign his paintings not with the name Kostka, but with the pseudonym Chontvari.
Tivadar Chontvari was engaged in painting until 1909. At that time, his illness began to progress (presumably schizophrenia, which was accompanied by megalomania), and rare paintings became a reflection of surrealistic visions. The artist also wrote several allegorical philosophical treatises. During his life, Tivadar never sold any of his paintings - exhibitions in Paris were not particularly popular, and there were almost none at home. The painter died in 1919, never having received recognition for his talent.
God and the Devil in the painting "The Old Fisherman"
More recently, the subject of close attention of art critics has been the painting by Tivadar Kostka Chontvari “The Old Fisherman”, written by him in 1902. By mirroring the left and right parts of the painting alternately, two completely different images are created - God in a boat against the backdrop of a calm lake, or the Devil on a volcano and storm waters behind.
After the discovery of this fact, the recognition of the author of the picture was approached differently. But what did Tivadar Chontvari want to say with his work? Many suspected the connection of the artist's work with mysticism and with great zeal began to study the heritage of the Hungarian painter.
The most plausible version of the idea embedded in the picture is the opinion about the dualistic nature of human nature, which Tivadar wanted to convey. A person spends his whole life in a constant struggle between two principles: male and female, good and evil, intuitive and logical. These are the ingredients of life. Like the god and the devil in the Chontwari painting, they complement each other, without one there is no other.
The “Old Fisherman”, as the embodiment of a lived life and human wisdom, with the help of a simple technique, shows how bad and good, good and evil, god and devil harmonize in each of us. And to balance them is the task of each person.
