I encountered the Blake in the “The Marriage of Heaven and Hell: William Blake and his Contemporaries” at the Museum of Fine Arts in Heroes’ Square, and the Kuzma in the “Conversion. Radical Encounters” show at HAB Hungarian Art and Business, a few blocks away on Andrássy út.

Neglected in his lifetime, Blake (1757-1827) has come to embody the notion of the visionary artist. He responded to a changing world – from the enormous impact of the 1790s French Revolution to the white-hot pace of technological and industrial development and political and social unrest – by championing emotions and the irrational.

Works such as “Enitharmon’s Joy” are a prime example of how Blake reworked subjects from classical mythology and the occult to his own ends. In his universe, Enitharmon represents spiritual beauty and poetic inspiration as well as female domination and the way sexual restraints limit the artistic imagination.

With her long grey hair and hawklike nose, Enitharmon bears a striking resemblance to the performer and writer Patti Smith. I don’t believe this is a coincidence. Smith is a Blake devotee.

“Blake and his Contemporaries” presents an impeccably organized selection from the United Kingdom’s Tate collection, including important works such as those inspired by the scientist and occult seeker Isaac Newton. While it’s always fascinating to see work you have only ever encountered in reproduction in the flesh, as it were, there’s way too much to absorb in one visit. It wasn’t long before I got Blake fatigue and began to find the more abstract works on show by contemporaries like JMW Turner and Henry Fuseli far more appealing.

It also started to feel like I was walking over a never-ending bed of nails. There’s nowhere to sit inside the exhibition space, and I began hungrily eyeing the security guards’ chairs.

Comic Book Influencer?

Limping away from “Blake and his Contemporaries” on throbbing feet, I realized that, while I admired the man and his ideas, I really didn’t resonate, as they say, with his visual art. His writing, yes. It also dawned on me that Blake’s real influence is on comic book artists. The great Jack Kirby, who drew Superman among others, must have been an admirer.

Luckily, I had enough strength left to hobble the few blocks down Andrássy út to HAB Hungarian Art and Business, which I’d written about for this column but never actually visited. It was a pleasure.

The building on the “Classicist palace row” that houses HAB was built in the late 19th century as the summer residence of Ferenc József Landauer. It is now under the care of the MBH Bank. Somewhat grandly, HAB describes itself as “the origin of innovation in Hungarian fine arts” and “a social meeting place that can connect visitors with art and with each other.”

The décor is what you might call “Hungarian Minimalist,” expanses of white mixed with bright color. It features an impressive concrete spiral staircase awash in greens, blues and pinks that’s catnip for influencers. As well as offering a photogenic menu (perfect for Instagram) that you can actually eat, the restaurant’s chairs are supremely comfortable. Oh, and the exhibition spaces are not large, so you can really focus on the artworks without schlepping miles.

Unfortunately, “Conversion. Radical Encounters,” the exhibition my wife and I saw, ends in the next couple of days. Hurry down to HAB or you’ll miss it.

While I question how radical the artworks I encountered actually are, I agree with the exhibition’s fundamental premise that “being under threat invariably calls for a radical turn in our lives.” The work on show aims to encourage the viewer to consider conversion. They “predominantly invite the viewer to contribute to the work with an active agency.”

Interactive Installations

This is certainly true of Hungarian contemporary artist Eszter Júlia Kuzma’s marvelous textile work “Bestial Sanctum.” Kuzma’s art combines ancient symbols with the world of today. It’s primarily concerned with the relationship between nature, transcendence, femininity and materiality, explored through a variety of media and often linked to mysticism, myths, and various religious traditions and rituals, which she translates into interactive installations and objects.

“Bestial Sanctum” incorporates a bowl of fake blood atop a plinth in front of an altar depicting flames and protozoan shapes. Viewers are encouraged to dip their fingers in the blood and daub on the textile. Unfortunately, the blood had all been smeared by the time we got there.

Before we left HAB, we checked out the basement. Here, I had an unexpected encounter with an old friend.

I first saw Mark Wallinger’s Blake-inspired “Angel” video in 1997 at the game-changing “Sensation” exhibition of what was then called “Britart” made by Young British Artists (YBAs) at the Royal Academy in London.

“Angel” is a video installation of Wallinger as a blind man walking backwards at the foot of the down escalator at Angel Underground Station, reciting the opening of the New Testament Gospel of St. John: “In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God.…”

Wallinger’s installation is a spiritual work that also questions the value of spirituality in art and life. If we really want art to make change, it needs to be aligned with direct action. William Blake knew this.

“The Marriage of Heaven and Hell: William Blake and His Contemporaries” is at the Museum of Fine Arts on Heroes’ Square until Jan. 11, 2026. HAB can be found at 112 Andrássy út.

This article was first published in the Budapest Business Journal print issue of November 14, 2025.