Csaba Markus

Csaba Markus brings together the elegance of Renaissance art with contemporary vision, creating ethereal portraits that echo the Old Masters while speaking to modern audiences. Born in Budapest, Hungary in 1953, he grew up finding refuge in Europe’s art museums and baroque architecture, studying the works of Michelangelo, Caravaggio, and Botticelli. After a teacher recognized his talent at age 10, Markus trained as a sculptor under renowned Hungarian artist Mohácsi Regõs Ferenc. By age 14, his work appeared on international public television, though his artistic development was ultimately stifled by Communist party ideologies.
In 1978, Markus immigrated to the United States, settling in California where he experimented with glass, sculpture, ceramics, handmade papers, etchings, mono prints, and animation. Today, he is best known for his Modern Mona Lisas, portraits of confident young women created using sfumato, a technique of fine shading associated with Leonardo da Vinci that creates soft transitions between colors without defined lines.
Markus creates limited-edition works including etchings, stone lithographs, and serigraphs, often using over 100 colors and hand-embellishing with dried pigments, ground glass, platinum, and 24-karat gold. In 2017, he worked with Park West Gallery to create caldographs, a new medium using dye sublimation on wood panels that honors da Vinci’s original technique for the Mona Lisa.