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Gulácsy's soul filled with emotions longed for love and gregariousness which he failed to find in the society of his age. This is why he created a world of dreams, emotions and imaginations around himself, which he then populated with idyllic figures of medieval Italy which he thought to be harmonious and happy. His pictures were born in this world of dreams, which he was a part of, too, he identified himself with it in life-style and behaviour. Looking back into the past meant the reality of present existence for him. Gulácsy deliberately chose this dual art: "... I only half dream when I live in this world. One's eye gazes into the sweet illusion of false dreams, and the other eye watches the real world," he wrote about himself. Watching reality made his works authentic. Emotions and events of everyday life interweave the scenes of imaginations.
"Siege of a Castle" is a peculiar mixture of past and present. Its atmosphere is lyric rather than dramatic, one cannot feel the heat and the tension of the battle. The picture is painted in soft unity, the figures of the group in the foreground with a man leaning and who is wearing a hat are only characters in a play rather then figures in a real siege. Occasionally, some details of the picture show earthly events in the landscape along the river and in the ruffled cedars.
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