Róbert Berény was born in 1887 in Budapest. He was the leader of an avant garde movement before World War I called the „Group of Eights” who introduced cubism and expressionism to Hungarian art at the beginning of the 20th century. He had studied and exhibited in Paris as a young man and was also considered one of the Hungarian Fauves, a group of modern artists whose works emphasized painterly qualities and strong color over the representational or realistic values.

The painting „Sleeping Woman with a Black Vase” (Alvó nő fekete vázával) is considered one of his main works. It was painted between 1924-1928 and the sleeping woman on it is the painter’s second wife, Eta Breuer. The Hungarian artwork was missing for decades, it disappeared in the 1920s, until Gergely Barki, a sharp-eyed art historian managed to track it down.

photo:magyarmuzeumok.hu

The discovery of the long-lost painting was not an unusual one either. Barki, a researcher at Hungary’s National Gallery in Budapest, noticed Berény’s „Sleeping Lady with Black Vase” as he watched television with his daughter in 2009. Although he had only seen a faded black-and-white photo of the painting from an exhibition in 1928, he recognised it on screen right away; he saw the masterpiece in a scene of a kids movie, Stuart Little. It was hanging on the wall behind Hugh Laurie. Barki immediately sent emails to everyone related to the film's production; he estimates that he sent about 40 to 50 emails, including inquiries to the studio, director and set designer.

photo:hvg.hu

Two years later, he received a reply from a former set designer on the film, saying that the picture had been hanging on her wall. She said she had found it in an antiques shop in Pasadena, California, thinking its avant-garde elegance was perfect for Stuart Little’s living room. Later, she sold the painting to a private collector who has now brought the picture to Budapest for sale by auction. The starting price is 110 000 euros (about 34.5 million forints).

photo:nypost.com