Egy 19. századi celeb: a Munkácsy-fenomén, avagy egy híresség megkonstruálásának mechanizmusai

To this day, Mihály Munkácsy remains one of the greatest Hungarian painters in the collective consciousness, who had been held in high esteem in high esteem already in his lifetime. Munkácsy was one of the main celebrities of Paris at the end of the nineteenth century, his residence being a spectacle of high society life. He was a re- spected public figure, a real phenomenon. However, he achieved all this not only with the artistic value of his paintings, but rather with his international success, his reception, and reputation. Moreover, his fame was as much nourished by a consciously constructed evolutionary narrative as by the reputation of his luxurious Parisian mansion. These two were the alpha and omega of the cult that surrounded – and still surrounds – the figure of Munkácsy. Additionally, the oeuvre – the works of art signed by Munkácsy – had a great impact not only due to their quality, but also much through their history of reception. All of these components created the ‘Munkácsy brand,’ which does not seem to have lost its appeal to this day. Munkácsy’s conscious brand-building began already in his lifetime, though it was not initiated by him, but his art dealer, Charles Sedelmeyer, a skilled businessman, incredibly competent in marketing. Together with the artist’s wife, Cécile Papier, they began to develop and establish Munkácsy’s image. The figure of the ‘world-famous Munkácsy’ had to be constructed as much as the related, fashionable ‘Munkácsy brand,’ known as a trademark of artistic quality and exclusive taste, affordable only for the social elites. This study examines the 150-year-old process of constructing celebrity from the viewpoint of social and cultural history, the mechanisms of building the ‘Munkácsy brand,’ and the cult of the artist, which has reached enormous proportions already in his lifetime, and the role of these factors in Munkácsy’s career history.