István Sándorfi
István Sándorfi (In France Étienne Sandorfi; 12 June 1948 – 26 December 2007) was a Hungarian hyperrealist painter.
Also recorded as Sandorfi · Istvan Sandorfi
István Sándorfi
Angelisara · CC BY-SA 3.0
- Name
- István Sándarofi Étienne Sandorfi
- Born
- 12 June 1948
- Birthplace
- Budapest, Hungary
- Place of death
- Paris, France
- Field
- Painter
- Movement
- Hyperrealism István Sándorfi (In France Étienne Sandorfi; 12 June 1948 – 26 December 2007) was a Hungarian hyperrealist painter.
- Died
- 2007.
- Nationality
- France.
- Occupation
- painter.
- Movements
- hyperrealism.
VALÉORINE Encyclopedia
VALÉORINE documentary reading
Documentary summary
István Sándorfi (In France Étienne Sandorfi; 12 June 1948 – 26 December 2007) was a Hungarian hyperrealist painter.
Admitted source layer · organised and presented by VALÉORINE
Note VALÉORINE
István Sándorfi (1948–2007) was a painter, of French nationality. The painter was born in Budapest and died in 4th arrondissement of Paris.
Activity centred on painting. The painter was associated with hyperrealism. Languages used include French.
Composed from admitted, traceable facts · 26 September 2026
VALÉORINE
Reference Check
Propose documentary evidence for István Sándorfi. A contribution is never written directly as fact: identity, source, rights and evidence gates still decide.
Sign in to contribute
World of VALÉORINE
Documentary connections
Only confirmed graph relationships appear here. Images are shown only when their identity and reuse rights both pass the documentary gate.
Documentary evidence
Evidence Panel
technical hold · checked 25 September 2026
- Identity
- resolved
- Independent source families
- 0
- Admitted assertions
- 0
- Open conflicts
- 0
Authority files
bnf · getty · gnd · loc · wikidata · Q44126 · wikipedia · István Sándorfi
In this article
Key facts
Key facts
• Name — István Sándarofi Étienne Sandorfi • Born — 12 June 1948 • Birthplace — Budapest, Hungary • Place of death — Paris, France • Field — Painter • Movement — Hyperrealism István Sándorfi (In France Étienne Sandorfi; 12 June 1948 – 26 December 2007) was a Hungarian hyperrealist painter.
Early life and career
Early life and career
Istvan (known as Etienne) Sandorfi was born in Budapest in 1948. His father was director of the American company IBM in Hungary. Because of this association he served five years in prisons under the Communist leadership and his family was deported to an isolated Hungarian village. At the time of the 1956 uprising the Sandorfi family fled the country and became expatriates, first in Germany, then in France. Greatly affected by the violence of the revolution and by the aberration of political systems in general, Istvan took refuge in drawing and then, at the age of 12, in oil painting. Art became his overriding passion to the detriment of his schooling. At the age of 17, while still in secondary school, Sandorfi had his first individual exhibition at a small gallery in Paris. After his second exhibition, in 1966, he gave up drawing to devote himself exclusively to painting. In view of the morbid nature of his son's paintings and their lack of commercial success, Sandorfi's father enrolled Istvan at the School of Fine Arts, where he was to gain a degree, and at the School of Decorative Arts. This, the family thought, would give him a more prestigious status than that of mere "artist". Gradually he achieved financial independence by accepting, along with the occasional sale of paintings, portrait commissions and few advertising illustrations. In 1973 Sandorfi had his first significant exhibition, at the Museum of Modern Art in Paris. Exhibitions were to follow in France, Germany, Belgium and finally the United States. For about fifteen years he painted a series of large-scale self-portraits, sometimes told to be aggressive and theatrical in character, which gave him an ambiguous reputation with the public. It was written that he 'painted like an assassin'. From 1988 onwards the artist abandoned his disturbing images and began to concentrate and further elaborate on his technique. Preferring exclusive contracts, less for financial reasons than to avoid the administrative aspects of his career and a professional milieu with which he couldn't identify, Sandorfi worked with the Beaubourg Gallery from 1974 to 1976, and then for seven years with the Isy Brachot Gallery. From 1984 to 1988 his work was exhibited in various galleries by a patron and collector and then handled by the Prazan-Fitoussi Gallery from 1990 to 1993. From 1994 to 2001, his paintings were represented by the Jane Kahan Gallery in New York. Visceral and self-taught in work as in life, Sandorfi since childhood distrusted 'things learned' and remained true to his personal convictions. He preferred to paint at night, but each day went to bed later than the day before, thus living in a perpetual time lag, which sidelined him from any social life. Sandorfi reconciled this isolation with his family circle (he was the father of two girls, Ange and Eve) and his emotional life. From 2005 the Kalman Maklary Fine Arts represented Sandorfi, and in 2007 organized the first retrospective exhibition of the artist, with a monograph of his works.
Exhibitions
Exhibitions
• 1966 - Galerie des Jeunes, Paris • Galerie de la Barbière, Le Barroux • 1970 - Galerie 3+2, Paris • 1973 - Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris • 1974 - Galerie Daniel Gervis, Paris • 1975 - Galerie Beaubourg, Paris • 1976 - Bucholz Galerie, Munich • 1977, 1980 - Galerie Isy Brachot, Brussels • 1978, 1981, 1983 - Galerie Isy Brachot, Paris • 1979 - FIAC, Galerie Isy Brachot, Paris • 1981 - Galerie Isy Brachot, Basel • 1982 - Amaury Taitinger Gallery, New York City • 1984 - FIAC, Galerie Isy Brachot, Paris • 1986 - Galerie Lavignes-Bastille, Paris - Galerie de Bellecour, Lyon • 1987 - Lavignes-Bastille Gallery, Los Angeles - Hôtel de Ville, Nancy • 1988 - Armory Show '88, Lavignes-Bastille Gallery, New York - Abbaye des Cordeliers, Châteauroux (retrospektív) - Louis K. Meisel Gallery, New York City - FIAC, Galerie Lavignes-Bastille, Paris • 1991 - Galerie Prazan-Fitussi, Paris • 1993 - Galerie Guénéguaud, Paris - Galerie Mann, Paris • 1994, 1997 - Jane Kahan Gallery, New York City – Art Miami, Jane Kahan Gallery • 1997 – Seattle Art Fair, Jane Kahan Gallery • 1999 - Galerie Tempera, Brussels • 1999-2000 - Gallerihuset, Copenhagen – The International 20th Century Arts Fair New York, Jane Kahan Gallery • 2002 – Art Palm Beach, Jane Kahan Gallery • 2006 - Kalman Makláry Fine Arts, Budapest • 2007 - A test színeváltozása. Életműkiállítás, MODEM - Kalman Makláry Fine Arts, Debrecen - Los Angeles Art Show, Jane Kahan Gallery • 2008 - Moscow World Fine Art Fair, Kalman Maklary Fine Arts, Jane Kahan Gallery • 2008 - Haughton Art and Design Fair New York, Jane Kahan Gallery • 2009, 2010 - Los Angeles Art Show, Jane Kahan Gallery • 2010, 2011 - Haughton Art Antiques London, Jane Kahan Gallery • 2010 - Kalman Makláry Fine Arts, Budapest • 2010 - Haughton International Fine Art & Antiques Dealers Show, Jane Kahan Gallery • 2011 - Kalman Makláry Fine Arts, Budapest • 2014 - Kalman Makláry Fine Arts, Etienne Sandorfi Early drawings 1964 Budapest • 2015 - Kalman Makláry Fine Arts, Csernus-Mehes-Sandorfi Budapest • 2016 - #MEAM - Barcelona • 2019 - Kalman Makláry Fine Arts, Budapest • 2029 - #Hokimuseum in Japan.
Life and career
Dated record
Life and career
The full dated record · 2 entries
1948
István Sándorfi born at Budapest.
2007
István Sándorfi died at 4th arrondissement of Paris.
Primary material
Documents and archives
institutional register
- Bibliothèque nationale de France authority file 13178677c
Unverified · Bibliothèque nationale de France
- FAST authority file 83508
Unverified · FAST
- GND (German National Library) authority file 136817521
Unverified · GND (German National Library)
- IdRef (French universities) authority file 124422934
Unverified · IdRef (French universities)
- ISNI authority file 0000000114496957
Unverified · ISNI
- Library of Congress authority file n81142104
Unverified · Library of Congress
reference work
- “István Sándorfi”, English Wikipedia, consulted as further reading
Reputable secondary · Wikipedia
authority record
- Wikidata, structured authority record Q44126: István Sándorfi
Unverified · Wikidata
Notes from the source article
Cited by Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
These works are cited by the source article, in its own numbering. They are recorded as its citations, not as sources VALÉORINE has verified.
- 1.Elhunyt Sándorfi István festőművész. rtl.hu. 2007-12-28.
- 2.In memoriam Sándorfi István. 2016-03-04.
- 3.Sándorfi István életműkiállítás nyílik a barcelonai MEAM-ban Glamour. GLAMOUR.HU. 2016-09-05.
- 4.Sándorfi István életmű-kiállítása a debreceni Modemben. kultura.hu. 2007-04-12.
- 5.Cited in the source article.
References
Citations
References
Each reference names the institution holding it, so a reader may go to the document itself.
institutional register
Bibliothèque nationale de France authority file 13178677cBibliothèque nationale de France
Partially resolvedinstitutional register
Partially resolvedinstitutional register
GND (German National Library) authority file 136817521GND (German National Library)
Partially resolvedinstitutional register
IdRef (French universities) authority file 124422934IdRef (French universities)
Partially resolvedinstitutional register
Partially resolvedinstitutional register
Library of Congress authority file n81142104Library of Congress
Partially resolvedinstitutional register
National Library of Australia authority file 36085459National Library of Australia
Partially resolvedinstitutional register
RKDartists authority file 234947RKDartists
Partially resolved
Every cited source · 12
- 01
Bibliothèque nationale de France authority file 13178677c
institutional register · Unverified · Bibliothèque nationale de France
Consult the source - 02
- 03
GND (German National Library) authority file 136817521
institutional register · Unverified · GND (German National Library)
Consult the source - 04
IdRef (French universities) authority file 124422934
institutional register · Unverified · IdRef (French universities)
Consult the source - 05
- 06
Library of Congress authority file n81142104
institutional register · Unverified · Library of Congress
Consult the source - 07
National Library of Australia authority file 36085459
institutional register · Unverified · National Library of Australia
Consult the source - 08
- 09
Union List of Artist Names authority file 500061487
institutional register · Unverified · Union List of Artist Names
Consult the source - 10
- 11
“István Sándorfi”, English Wikipedia, consulted as further reading
reference work · Reputable secondary · Wikipedia
Consult the source - 12
Wikidata, structured authority record Q44126: István Sándorfi
authority record · Unverified · Wikidata
Consult the source
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 14 August 2026.
Elsewhere in Paintings
18,623 published records in this field, each with its sources named.
- István FarkasArtist
- István GyörgyArtist
- István MolnárArtist
- István RegősArtist
- Itala PellegrinoArtist
- Italo MusArtist
- Itay ZalaitArtist
- Itō JakuchūArtist
Best supported in this field
For owners
Own a work by István Sándorfi?
A specialist will read what you send and tell you what the house can establish, what it cannot, and whether the object is suited to sale. There is no charge and no obligation. The object stays with you throughout; nothing is shipped to us unless it is arranged in writing beforehand.