MUNKÁCSY Mihály
(1844–1900)

YAWNING APPRENTICE

1868–1869
Oil on panel
Museum of Fine Arts – Hungarian National Gallery, Budapest
Inv. no. 1897

The head study of a yawning apprentice is one of the best known works of Hungarian painting. The subject, rooted in his own experiences as a young apprentice, was painted by Munkácsy in Düsseldorf under the influence of German and French realist painters. Munkácsy also painted a full-length, genre-like depiction of the same yawning lad, shown getting out of bed at dawn, stretching. “My shoemaker, the flush of dawn brought me my first renown as an artist”, wrote Munkácsy in April 1869. According to an anecdote reported by Béla Lázár, Munkácsy’s secretary, Gustave Courbet – having noticed the Yawning Apprentice at the 1869 international exhibition in Munich, recognised in it the influence of his own art.
The study here focuses more on the face and captures the ordinary scene even better. It was acquired from the collection of Count Tasziló Almásy, a school fellow of Munkácsy in Düsseldorf.