Artúr Lajos Halmi

Artúr Lajos Halmi (1866 – December 3, 1939) was a Hungarian painter who has several works on display in the Hungarian National Gallery. A student of Mihály Munkácsy, he was internationally famed for his portraits. His portraits of opera singers led a 1979 history of the Metropolitan Opera House to note that "What Van Dyck was to the Stuart kings, Artur Halmi was to the sopranos of the first third of this century. He was the prima donna's best friend". He received medals for his artwork in Antwerp, Budapest and Paris. In the late 1880s, before Halmi had secured his reputation, traveling American Cornelius Hoagland Tangeman came upon some of his work on display in Munich and sought him out for private lessons. Impressed by Tangeman's aptitude and in need of money, Halmi gave him instruction for a time before Tangeman returned to the United States to enter business. In 1910, Halmi was still unknown in the United States when he came to visit his former pupil and was commissioned to paint a portrait of Tangeman's wife. The portrait received wide acclaim, leading to Halmi's popular demand as a portrait artist among the upper class and politically powerful of the United States. Among his subjects there, he painted then United States President William Taft and the children of the Guggenheim family.

In spite of his international success, Halmi remained humble, particularly aware of the artistic limitations imposed upon a commissioned portraitist. He was survived by his wife, Roszi Kaddish Halmi.