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"The Three Magi" was painted in Nagybánya in 1898 and it is Ferenczy's most significant picture from this year. The first idea originated from his own experience, from the atmosphere of a forest in the morning. The topic to match the mystic spell of the forest was the tale about the Three Magi who set out to visit Christ just born. Forms and colours are dim in the soft light glimmering through leaves. Greens are reflected on the silky hair of horses, shadows are green in the folds of mantles and turbans. In the geometrical middle, there is one patch of red which responds to the shades of green: it is the drapery around the waist of the Saracen king stripped to the waist. This patch is burning in the middle of the picture and it draws the eyes as if it were glowing embers under ashes. Its fire gives warmness and reduces the cold of green lights. Its presence changes content into colourful events. If one is looking at the picture for a longer time, it is no longer this atmosphere of tales, but the colours which put one under spell. Ferenczy took his time when he was preparing "The Three Magi" (he did eight sketches altogether some of which are in the possession of museums).
The reception of this picture indicates that unfortunately the majority of critics and the audience were not yet ready for it. Ferenczy's picture, a poetic painting with delicate colours, was the object of ridicule.
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