t Admiring modern art in the Museu Calouste Gulbenkian
With works gathered from all corners of the globe during Portugal’s Age of Discovery, dynamic contemporary collections and the world’s largest collection of original jewellery by Art Nouveau master craftsman René Lalique, Portugal is brimming with groundbreaking art. Here we round up the highlights.
t Admiring modern art in the Museu Calouste Gulbenkian
Portugal’s best-known contemporary artist, Paula Rego (b 1935), has a very distinct style. Her paintings depict muscular women, fairy tales and animals dressed in clothes to explore the themes of repression, feminism and politics. Casa das Histórias in Cascais hosts changing exhibitions of her work in a striking pyramidal building, designed by architect Eduardo Souto de Moura (b 1952). For more modern and contemporary works, check out the Museu Calouste Gulbenkian.
Named after a leading 18th-century sculptor, Porto’s Museu Soares dos Reis has some great examples of António Soares dos Reis’ work (1847–89). The high-light of the collection is O Desterrado (1872), a brooding marble figure. Lisbon’s Museu Calouste Gulbenkian houses world-class contemporary sculpture by the likes of José Maria Fernandes Marques (b 1939), whose works are rooted in both European and non-Western artistic traditions.
During the 15th and 16th centuries, Portugal acquired bounty from across the globe. Admire delicate Chinese porcelain, intricate inlaid Indian cabinets and ivory hunting horns from Africa at Lisbon’s Museu Nacional de Arte Antiga. Many of the treasures were bought over from Brazil and Africa by spice merchants for their wealthy patrons.
In the 15th and 16th centuries, Flemish sacred art was highly fashionable among wealthy sugar traders in Madeira, who bought and commissioned paintings, triptychs and sculptures for their private chapels and plantation houses. You can see these works at Funchal’s Museu de Arte Sacra and Lisbon’s Museu Nacional de Arte Antiga.
Jewellery, glassware and furnishings, many intertwined with René Lalique’s (1860–1945) signature ornate serpents and peacocks, can be seen at Lisbon’s Museu Calouste Gulbenkian. Highlights include a spectacular dragonfly brooch, an orchid comb and the sublime Cats Choker (1906–8), crafted from rock crystal.
The number of years of art on display in the Museu Calouste Gulbenkian.