MUNKÁCSY Mihály
(1844–1900)

TRAMPS AT NIGHT I

1872–1873
Oil on panel
Museum of Fine Arts – Hungarian National Gallery, Budapest
Inv. no. 2018

Munkácsy was interested in depicting social deviance and urban conflicts. This is true in the case of Tramps at Night, which shows gendarmes taking tramps into detention in the half-light of dawn, under the disconcerted stares of the market women. The theme of the tramp was deeply rooted in French reality. It was widespread in visual culture too and was also a topos in French literature.

Contemporary photograph of Tramps at Night I
ca. 1873
© Munkácsy Mihály Múzeum, Békéscsaba