GREAT MUSEUMS: Museu Colecção Berardo
Berardo Collection Museum offers an overview, a panorama of the creation of plastic arts, particularly in European and American art. Reflecting all the richness of the history, styles, origins mediums and techniques of the works from the collection, and provides a journey through the modern and contemporary Portuguese artistic creation, focusing on its originality and the place it occupies on the international scene.
By Efi Michalarou
Photo: Museu Colecção Berardo Archive
Berardo Collection of international Modern and Contemporary art of the 20th and 21st Century currently represents around 1000 works from more than 500 artists. A period of about 100 years is covered beginning in 1909 with a cubist painting from Pablo Picasso, “Tête de Femme”, continuing through almost all major artistic movements up to the most recent developments in contemporary artistic creation. This collection does not limit itself into categories devoted to specific mediums or periods. Rather, the collection is created as an integrated whole that is added to in response to emerging talent as well as a mandate to fill in critical historical gaps. Works by some of the most significant artists are included, Pablo Picasso, Marcel Duchamp, Kasimir Malevich, Piet Mondrian, Francis Bacon, Andy Warhol, Yves Klein, Willem de Kooning, Francesco Clemente, Jenny Holzer, Sol LeWitt, Richard Serra, Alexander Calder, Henry Moore, Fernando Botero, Vito Acconci, Larry Bell, Christian Boltanski, Mario Merz, Nam June Paik, Bill Viola, Bernd and Hilla Becher, Nan Goldin, Andreas Gursky among many others. A comprehensive view on Portuguese art is also represented in works by: Fernando Calhau, Alberto Carneiro, Paula Rego, Helena Almeida, Pedro Cabrita Reis, Pepe Diniz and Fernando Lemos. The intention of creating an international overview of 20th century art and the desire to share with others has resulted in the opening of the Berardo Museum– Exhibition Centre of Centro Cultural de Belém in Lisbon. A part of the collection (862 works) is given in permanent loan and can be seen in temporary exhibitions.
