The Art of István Sándorfi

István Sándorfi (In France Étienne Sandorfi, born 12 June 1948 in Budapest, Hungary, died 26 December 2007 in Paris, France) was a Hungarian hyperrealist painter.
His father worked for an American company, therefore in 1950 he was sent to jail for 5 years. He was freed only few days before the 1956 revolution. In 1956 the family left Hungary, first going to Austria, later to Germany and in 1958 to France. Sándorfi started to draw, when he was 8, and when he was 12, he started to use oil paints. He got his diploma at École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris and he studied also at École nationale supérieure des arts décoratifs.
He had two daughters: Ange (b. 1974) and Eve (b. 1979).
He died after a fast illness on 26 December 2007, and was buried - according to his will - in Budapest.
In the 1970s he started using himself as a model, because he did not like being watched by a stranger while he was working. His first exhibition was in a small gallery in Paris, then the first great exhibition was held in 1973 at the Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris. After that his painting were found in several museums abroad, like in Copenhagen, Rome, Munich, Bruxelles, Basel, New York, Los Angeles and in San Francisco.
On his painting he used strange objects, or very strange movements and situations. The colors of his 1970-1980s era was the blue, the lilac and their cold combinations. In the 1980s he made more female forms and still life. Since 1988 he painted mainly women.
His first Hungarian exhibition was held in 2006 in Budapest, and then in 2007 there was an exhibition in Debrecen. This was the first time he went back to Hungary, since he left the country as a child.
Music by Budd/Wright, 'Candylion'.