The Depiction of Decision-Making Mechanisms in a Totalitarian Dictatorship in Albert Nagy’s Painting Szavazás [Voting]

Abstract

This study examines the complex relationship between law and art in the context of 20th-century totalitarian dictatorship in Romania, through an analysis of Albert Nagy’s painting, Szavazás [Voting] (1962). The aim of the research is to explore how the legal and constitutional framework of a totalitarian state and its democratic appearance are represented in the symbolic language of a visual work of art. It provides a detailed analysis of the electoral and institutional provisions of the Romanian constitutions of 1948 and 1952, as well as the actual functioning of the People’s Councils, highlighting the contradictions between the declared rights and the mechanisms of coercion in practice. The study interprets the iconographic and numerical symbolism of the painting by presenting the visual metaphors that can be found in it.