Human face is both to see with and to be seen. However, we only see our own face from the outside, mirrored in something. From the point of view of metaphysics, ethics, semiotics and art, the most important part of our body is the face: it has the power to change the world.

Portrait is a significant genre which is traditionally an expression for the looks and personality of the person. This definition seems simple, still, there were only a few works of art from the past years in which this definition is valid. It seems, as if this type of representation was not included in the scope of present day art. The face represented is rather a tool, more than before.

We may ask, what portrait mean these days? What functions does it fulfil, in the era of photography, film and virtuality? Who and why is portrayed at the end of the 20th, the beginning of the 21st century? What is the social role of portraits today? These are the basic questions behind the exhibition, which also commemorates the founder of the museum, Lajos Ernst in the centenary year of the museum. Ernst mainly collected and showed portraits, mostly historic ones.

This time, the consideration was to show changes in the representation of the human face in art, revealing the possible motives and objectives of the artist, instead of following a romantic and heroic line.