Gábor Papp

It all started with a well-done drawing of dogs copied from an elementary school textbook. Inspired by this, I enrolled in the Railway Artists' Circle, led by Károly Kirchmayer, which was based opposite Nyugati, and which I joined in the evenings from Nagymaros. In the meantime, the evening free school led by Ferenc Bolmányi was also founded in Nagymaros, where I enrolled. It was here that I made one of my first paintings, entitled "The Old Trumpet Player". After that I felt a constant urge to paint landscapes, still lifes, portraits and figural compositions. I was dreaming of this beautiful vocation, but it is the vocation that chooses. All this happened between the ages of 13 and 17. Before that, I spent my childhood in Szentpéter (Komáromszentpéter) in the Highlands and in Nagymegyer in the Csallóköz region, where my father worked as a railway foreman. My mother ran the household, with two small children. Here I went to elementary, first and second grade while the Second World War was going on. After 1945 this area was annexed to Slovakia, so we moved to Hungary. First we lived in Szob, then in Zebegény, then in Nagymaros.

In 1954 I was admitted to the College of Fine Arts, where I continued my studies in painting between 1954 and 1960, in the first year in the class of Gyula Pap, and later Bertalan Poór. It was during this period in 1956 that Aurél Bernáth and Endre Domanovszky were admired masters and role models. But in the last years, we could meet new role models, such as Monet, Cezanne, Picasso, Brague, Chagall, Kandinsky, etc. What happened between 1954 and 1960 determined the good and the bad.

For me, the creative process is a kind of striving to realise an idea by concentrating, thinking in context, solving problems continuously, which involves a certain tension. Positive tension!

I walk a lot in my free time, it's a nice way to recharge. For me, there is no better inspiration than reality.

I have been listening to classical music and musicals regularly for the last twenty years. I was first introduced to opera films (Bajazzos, Peasant's Honour, Troubadour) at the cinema in Nagymaros. I used to go to the Academy of Music and the Opera a lot. Every Easter I used to listen to Bach's St. John Passion in one of the churches.

If I didn't paint, I would sing...