From Hungary to Paris

Simon Handl was born in 1922 in Hungary, in Bia (now Biatorbágy, near Budapest). He came from a family of German immigrants who adopted a Hungarian surname in 1939 to distance themselves from the terror of the National Socialist regime. Hantaï's childhood and youth in a strictly Catholic environment were formative, particularly his fascination with liturgical rites and sacred music. As a student at the Hungarian Academy of Fine Arts in Budapest, he became politically active in the early 1940s, publicly denouncing the Hungarian government's collaboration with the Nazi occupying forces. The liberation of the country by Soviet troops in February 1945 marked a turning point for the capital's artistic and cultural scene. Under the guidance of François Gachot, he became familiar with the latest trends in the French avant-garde through art history courses at the French Cultural Institute in Budapest. In particular, he discovered the work of Henri Matisse and Pierre Bonnard. In 1947, he married Zsuzsa Biró, a fellow student, and the couple settled in Paris a year later (shortly before the Iron Curtain was erected). France remained Hantaï's adopted homeland until his death in 2008.