This exhibition is the result of a collaboration between the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao and The Museum of Fine Arts – Hungarian National Gallery, Budapest, an esteemed institution that showcases treasures of international art spanning from Antiquity to the 21st century, and Hungarian art from the Middle Ages until today. Among the various collections that comprise its holdings, the Collection of Prints and Drawings stands out in both time range and quantity, gathering approximately 9,000 drawings and 100,000 prints by European artists.

An extensive and varied array of works, the show provides a comprehensive overview of art on paper from the 1400s to the present day, including such great artists as Albrecht Dürer, Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael, Rembrandt, Francisco de Goya, Miklós Barabás, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Pablo Picasso, Egon Schiele, Victor Vasarely, Vera Molnar, Judit Reigl, Dóra Maurer, and even Georg Baselitz, Katharina Grosse, and Gerhard Richter. The nigh on 150 masterpieces shed light on the centuries-old traditions of the genres; on how they are always open to renewal; on their various formal solutions; on their essential features and their characteristic aesthetic effects.

The presentation is structured around twelve thematic sections that feature the distinctive characteristics of each era, while also highlighting connections and relevant issues in the realm of drawing and printmaking. At the first level, it sets before the viewer the technical diversity of drawings and prints, while on a deeper level, it shows their various functions. All this allows visitors to eventually understand the significance of drawing and printmaking within the history of art and see how, in the midst of changes in styles and trends over the centuries, it is drawings and prints that remained truest to themselves.

The exhibition also gives an insight into the rich, eventful history of the Museum of Fine Art’s Collection of Prints and Drawings, the most valuable collection of works on paper in Hungary. A number of archival elements has been gathered to narrate its origins within the art collection of a highly important Hungarian noble family, the Esterházys, and the achievements reached thanks to the indefatigable work of many dedicated museum directors, keepers, and curators.