István Nagy was born in 1873. He kept on wandering around all through his life. It only changed when he got ill in consequence of which he settled in Baja. He was fifty-eight when he stopped drifting. At the beginning he wandered alone, later on with his family.

The poor painter was born in Erdély, among the mountains in Csík where he spent his childhood. István Nagy studied in Munich and Paris, also visited Italy. However, he stayed to live in Hungary. He became a realist painter, painting Hungarian land and people. He worked as a military painter during WWI. He never ceased drawing during wondering, mostly with coal. He was acclaimed by his contemporaries, eg. Kosztolány noticed his talent, Miklós Surányi wrote a novel of István Nagy’s life.

The visitors to the exhibition can observe all important stages of the life of István Nagy, can spend some time in front of pictures of the snow covered mountains in Csík, can wonder at the beautiful colours of sunset at Lake Balaton, or can get lost in the blinding white of the Great Planes.

István Nagy lived in poverty until his death, consequently he used cheap material. He often drew on paper used for wrapping food. However, the pictures shine in their original beauty after they have been restored.