Pál Szinyei Merse

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Pál Szinyei Merse, by Wilhelm Leibl, 1869.

Pál Szinyei Merse (also known Paul von Szinyei-Merse; July 4, 1845 – February 2, 1920) was a Hungarian painter and politician.

Born in Chminianska Nová Ves, Slovakia, (before 1918 Szinyeújfalu, Hungary, he learned painting at the Academy of Fine Arts, Munich under Karl von Piloty. He was a friend of Wilhelm Leibl and Hans Makart. His are some of the earliest works of Impressionism in Hungary and Central Europe.

At the 1873 World's Fair in Vienna he won a medal with his painting Bath House.

Szinyei was also an active politician. He was elected to the parliament where he fought for the modernization of art education. He died in February 2, 1920, just four month and two days before the Trianon treaty, in Jarovnice, which treaty passed the town and all what is now known as Slovakia to the newly formed Czechoslovakia.