The exhibition explores the complexity of femininity, focusing not on equality or male roles, but on uniquely female experiences often marginalized in society. The works reveal anxieties, inner struggles, and fears, yet also moments of irony, optimism, and visual harmony. Across painting, sculpture, and installation, the exhibition captures the richness of female creative expression and the many perspectives on the eternal woman.

The Contemporary Forum for Female Reflections (KNRF) was clearly aware of its thematic direction from the very start in 2017, though it articulated it fully only at the 2019 conference held at the MTA Library. From that moment, it became clear that the forum would not approach femininity through the lens of equality movements, nor focus on women fulfilling traditionally male roles. Instead, it concentrated on uniquely female functions—those essential to human existence, irreplaceable by men, and often marginalized in societal representation. According to the KNRF, the innate drive for feminine harmony in lived experience is frequently overridden by masculine rationality, with unsustainable consequences ranging from environmental exploitation to limitless economic expansion.
The 2019 conference gained renewed relevance this year, with a visual art exhibition under nearly the same title, L’ Éternel Féminin, held from May 29 to June 2 at the Zikkurat Gallery. This event, six years later, can be seen as both a reckoning with the intervening years and an artistic representation of themes originally explored in scholarly studies. While the exhibition features some 40 artists—including several men—and around 70 works, it does not suggest that female representation in contemporary art is suppressed. Yet, the paintings and sculptures rarely portray the essential harmony of the eternal woman; rather, they reveal complexities, anxieties, and fears. Few works approach their subject with detachment, irony, or lightness.

Among the highlights, Apolka Erős’s sculptures Femme Fatale I-II confront femininity with grotesque form, vibrant energy, and unapologetic self-irony. Edina Ardey, observing from the outside, evokes the sweltering, sunlit stillness of urban summer life with nearly monochromatic paintings. Dorottya Poor examines herself with striking intensity, using sharp light and shadow to depict enduring feminine strength through almost abstracted forms that remain vivid and tactile. Alíz Stohl weaves uncertain shapes into intricate visual patterns, revealing hidden inner worlds, while Judit Zirczi brings Giacometti’s forms into her dreamlike universe, focusing on creation as an almost alchemical process. Júlia Egervári’s sand-filled installation, populated with small fetal figures progressing toward a dark center, confronts viewers with a stark meditation on life’s fragility.

Adél Kiss’s work depicts the raw, intimate reality of cesarean birth, confronting both the viewer and herself with unflinching honesty. Boglárka Fekete blends wood carving and ink painting to articulate inner anxieties and vulnerability, transforming personal vision into striking visual form. Bernadett Szitás employs color and scale to create works whose meaning emerges only in the original, conveying expressive force akin to a musical composition. Conversely, Rebeka Nagy radiates youthful energy and optimism, celebrating the simple beauty of everyday objects and their harmonious integration into aesthetic patterns.

Male sculptors also contribute, providing structural grounding to the exhibition’s exploration of femininity. Ádám Farkas’s Blue Boat investigates the possibilities of blue-veined Brazilian granite, while Botond Polgár meticulously carves and paints limestone to recreate a historically constrained figure of Geier Stefi. Péter Menasági’s torso distills the essence of feminine desire, rendering it as an abstract symbol on a white limestone pedestal.

A roundtable discussion with the audience, reflecting on the 2019 conference’s themes, underscored that female artists face no greater barriers in the contemporary art world than men. Nevertheless, many works reveal ongoing struggles: the tension between motherhood, family life, and continuous artistic presence, the inward confrontation with personal demons, and the rarity of unreserved expression. The exhibition as a whole illuminates the multiplicity of female creative experience, the inner conflicts of women artists, and the diverse perspectives through which the eternal woman is interpreted.