Out & About: Museu Colecção Berardo, Lisbon

Alexander Calder

One of the highlights of our Lisbon trip was the Museu Colecção Berardo. It is probably the Portuguese equivalent of the Saatchi Collection as it is very large, although it concentrates on more on 20th century art rather than contemporary.

 



Amedeo Modigliani, Tete de jeune fille a la frange

It was interesting to see work by artists I didn't know as there seems to be an accepted English speaking trail through the 20th century, after starting in Paris and moving to Germany for the Bauhaus. I'm sure some of the work would be judged as of a lesser quality, but as Mark Elder, the conductor, was saying on Radio 4 this morning, the reception of the work at the time and now is so subjective and because these artists did not fit into the accepted narrative of living in the right place at the right time, that could be sufficient to have their work dismissed. 


Lynn Chadwick, Maquette for Teddy Boy and Girl II

For the first part of my viewing I was accompanied by our six year old daughter, dragging a gallery stool around, stopping and drawing the paintings that caught her eye. Eventually she was beaten by this one and would not be pacified by me explaining she had chosen a really difficult one (see below) that I would struggle with too!



Otto Freundlich, Untitled

She went off in disgust with her father and then I was given a guided tour of the rest of the 1900-1960 section by our 11 year old. It was fascinating to see what he liked - which was mainly expressive black marks on a white canvas.

Emilio Vedova, Presenza N5V

We explored the 1960+ section together, which neither of us enjoyed as much. He kept asking 'but why is this art, mummy?', which was difficult to answer at points. He wondered if he drew a line on a piece of paper and called it art whether he could sell it for £1million. I said it wouldn't be art as he wasn't an artist and what was the message or intent. He was more won over by the argument that no one would buy it...  It does get harder and harder to explain... Any suggestions?

Kenneth Armitage, Standing Figure

Out & About: Lisbon

At the Convento do Carmo

We decided to do something a bit daft last week and we took the kids to Lisbon for four days.  They were off school due to teacher training on Thursday and Friday and we just wanted to do something different.  I looked at cheap flights and Lisbon came up, which is a place none of us had ever visited before.

Sunset from the castle

We had a fabulous time.  We would all highly recommend Lisbon for a few days visit.  There were lots to see and do.  We arrived up at the castle not long before sunset and had beautiful views of pink and orange glowing skies across the bay. 

Light streaming through onto the balcony at the aquarium

The quality of light was astounding – it was just so bright and powerful compared to home.  I’m sure it must rain sometimes, but it felt as if summer had never ended!  You could get a real sense of what it would be like on an incredibly hot day.  There was also a real clarity in the light, probably due to time of year.

Ice cream breaks always go down well with the little monsters

The children love transport, so thought the old trams were great and I was especially grateful to the incredibly friendly locals who stopped a pickpocket taking my wallet whilst we were getting on the tram.

Convento do Carmo

We loved the ruins of the ancient convent, the Convento do Carmo, which had been destroyed by an earthquake and I really liked the pre-historic figures that were in its museum collection.  I’ve already started drawing ideas from them.

The water garden next to the aquarium

For me, there were two main highlights, which I’ll share with you in some further posts.  Firstly, the Museu Colecção Berardo, a huge collection of 20^th Century art and, rather unsurprisingly for those who know me, the aquarium, which is apparently one of the largest in Europe.

I love the old paving slabs

We left an amazingly sunny Lisbon on Sunday, full of delicious fish and natas, the local custard tarts and returned home to Scotland, where yesterday it was dark all day.  It is so good to have a break!