Painter and graphic artist Pal Molnar was born in Hungary in 1894. One of the most popular European painters of the 20th century, he studied in Budapest from 1915-1918 to become an art teacher, learning various techniques which led to the diversity displayed in all his chosen mediums. As a private teacher, he traveled with the Szinyei family to Switzerland, and later spent a year in France before returning to Hungary in 1923. He spent three years in Rome on a fellowship.

The popularity of his art is due to a peculiar combination of classical Mediterranean traditions and the restlessness of 20th century man. The mostly sacral scenes of his pictures, identical with subject matters of the Rome school, are portrayed in a direct sensual style. In the 1920s, he created a richer version of plein air painting, as seen in the stronger colors in his Swiss landscapes. In his drawings and character drawings, thorough observations were accompanied by elegant stylization, cubistic characterization and expressionism. Portrayal, color and a penchant for surrealism created a peculiar version of neo-classicism in his ecclesiastical pictures and frescoes.