When I started to wonder what would happen to this country’s art scene with Magyar at the helm, it made sense to talk to controversial Hungarian painter and visual artist, novelist and musician, drMáriás.
drMáriás, he came by his arresting name when he decided he would “play the role of a doctor who wanted to heal society with his art,” realized as a young artist that “there’s one topic you can’t run away from: social pressure and injustice, ideological tyranny and the constant lying being called politics.”
Since 2010, he’s had plenty to work with. Blacklisted, he claims, from the official media, his satirical depictions of contemporary politicians, combined with references to classical and contemporary artists, became enormously popular online. Now, in the time of Petflix, when Hungary is quite justifiably enjoying an enormous surge of optimism centered on politics, especially among the young, I was curious what drMarias made of it all.
We spoke online a few days before drMáriás’ “Long live the dictatorship” exhibition at the Godot Institute of Contemporary Art, at Fényes Adolf utca 2, closed. The biggest exhibition of his career featured two large rooms, one dedicated to Orbán and the other to Magyar, and was visited by around 15,000 people.
Although he has reservations because, as he points out, “Magyar’s strategy was fantastic, but we still know very little about his policies in general,” drMáriás’ has a positive personal take on Magyar’s astonishing success.
“Péter Magyar bought two paintings of mine two years ago. Many prominent personalities of Tisza have visited my exhibitions. They were very interested and friendly and positive towards my art,” drMarias tells me.
“Zoltán Tarr, a former Reformed priest, is now Minister for Social Relations and Culture. As far as I know, he’s basically conservatively oriented. But he’s also open-minded and belongs to a faction in the Protestant church who were against Mr. Balog, who actually caused the scandal that led to the demolition of Fidesz, so we shall see.”
That statement might need a little explanation for the uninitiated. Zoltán Balog served as Minister of Human Resources under Viktor Orbán from 2012 to 2018. After leaving the cabinet, he returned to church leadership (he had previously been a Reformed pastor) and was elected Bishop of the Reformed Church District of Dunamellék in 2020.
In 2024, Balog advised then-President Katalin Novák to give a presidential pardon to a man convicted of covering up child abuse at a children’s home. The scandal led to Novák’s resignation, along with that of Minister of Justice Judit Varga, Péter Magyar’s ex-wife. Balog stepped down from his role as the pastoral president of the Synod of the Hungarian Reformed Church, but not from his bishopric. It seems to have been the scandal that persuaded Magyar to become involved in politics. Now, back to our artist.
“I’m not romantic about this. It’s quite possible Tisza will forget me very soon, or that including art like mine in their future cultural politics isn’t an aim. On the other hand, there’s this important, positive cultural attitude, and it is promising for me,” drMáriás says.
“I’m regarded as a little pessimistic in my neighborhood because, in the current wave of optimism, it’s easy to forget that Fidesz hasn’t disappeared. Also, [former Prime Minister Viktor] Orbán may return in a year or two. He’s been in Hungarian politics for almost four decades. He’s influential and has strong international connections,” drMáriás continues.
Given that the artist’s work often featured Orbán, has it become more collectible as a souvenir of his 20-plus years in power?
“It’s a good question,” drMáriás replies. “People have said that my work will quickly be forgotten because it deals with Orbán. They argue that abstract art speaks for eternity, and my kind of art only works for a short period of time. There’s also the fact that people see the Orbán era in emotional terms and not yet as part of history. We need time and distance. In my exhibition, there was interest in the Orbán paintings but more in the Péter Magyar work. Someone bought my painting ‘Péter Magyar and Viktor Orbán reconcile so that Hungary would flourish’.”
For obvious reasons, drMáriás’ work has mainly focused on Hungary. Now that Péter Magyar is in power, he’s looking forward to engaging more with world politics.
“World politics inspires me,” he says. “I’ve painted Obama, Trump and Putin several times. Between 2010 and 2017, I exhibited abroad regularly, in Britain, Germany, Austria, the U.S., even China and Russia. But then Hungary became a bit of a pariah, and people weren’t interested in art from this country. My attempts to make new exhibitions or concerts abroad with my band Tudósok mostly failed.”
As anyone reading global media will agree, attention has shifted away from Hungary as the world waits to see what Magyar will do. But drMáriás is confident this country’s politics will become dynamic and interesting again for international observers.
“There will be new topics and new things to paint and talk about. I’m already preparing my next exhibition, which will be in November and will include at least 15 new artworks.”
Meanwhile, drMáriás certainly hasn’t mellowed. Only days before I sat down to write this, his new piece “Zoltán Balog and Péter Magyar hang Victor Orbán in the studio of Ajtósi Dürer” was causing controversy.
Speaking about the painting, drMáriás explains that it refers to the fact that although Zoltán Balog caused the scandal that led to Orbán’s fall, he didn’t resign. “The brutal and cruel aspect of the painting is justified by the level of hatred in Hungary after the elections. I think this mood will continue in this country for a while, as it would in medieval times.”
I find the work a bit too extreme, but I respect the fact that what drMáriás does must have teeth to fulfill its satirical purpose. And at a time when Hungarian contemporary art has an unparalleled opportunity to attract the attention of the young people who follow Petflix and who will determine this country’s future, a bit of provocation popping up as they scroll may well be a very good thing.
You can keep up with drMáriás’ work at drmarias.hu
This article was first published in the Budapest Business Journal print issue of June 19, 2026.
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