Valuable Moholy-Nagy painting donated to National Gallery

A painting by 20th century Hungarian constructivist Laszlo Moholy-Nagy represents the highest-value private donation of an artwork granted to a Hungarian museum since the country's post-communist transformation, Laszlo Baan, the director general of the Hungarian National Gallery, said. The painting Architektur I or Konstruktion auf blauem Grund has been granted by the New York-based The Salgo Trust for Education, and its market value is estimated to be several billion forints, Baan told a press conference. The donation also fills a gap because before this Hungary had no Moholy-Nagy paintings from the years following his emigration in 1919, he added. The painting had been sought after by such institutions as the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and The Art Institute of Chicago, but the foundation believed it would be best displayed in Hungary. The work from 1921 is probably Moholy-Nagy's first constructivist painting.