Titolo: Witch. Legend of Szeged
Misure: 60x90 cm
Tecnica: Acrylic on canvas

Real events of my town inspired the painting. Szeged conceals a terrible secret. A long-forgotten tragedy is hidden by the quiet trees of the city's Witch Island, in the Tisza riverbank. Screams are still heard on the damned isle, the cry of victims of witch hunts. During the 1720s several women accused of witchcraft were burned at the stake in Szeged, Hungary. Fear and ignorance took away the lives of many guiltless women at the time of the witch-burnings. Famine, drought, poverty, hail and disease devastated the area back then. People thought it was the work of the devil. Sin was believed to reign in the city. Therefore, the devil’s minions, the “witches” were made the scapegoats. The witch trial in Szeged (1728) was one of the largest mass persecutions of witches in Hungary, one of the shameful events of our history, and also a proof of human stupidity and hatred. That's where the witch legend of Szeged comes from. The painting pays homage to the women accused of witchcraft, innocently sentenced and burned to death.