The Calouste Gulbenkian Museum houses one of the world's most important private art collections. It includes works from

Ancient Egypt Ancient Egypt () was a cradle of civilization concentrated along the lower reaches of the Nile River in Northeast Africa. It emerged from prehistoric Egypt around 3150BC (according to conventional Egyptian chronology), when Upper and Lower E ...

to the early 20th century, spanning the arts of the

Islamic World The terms Islamic world and Muslim world commonly refer to the Islamic community, which is also known as the Ummah. This consists of all those who adhere to the religious beliefs, politics, and laws of Islam or to societies in which Islam is ...

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

and

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

, as well as the French decorative arts, the jewellery of

René Lalique René Jules Lalique (; 6 April 1860 – 1 May 1945) was a French jeweller, medallist, and glass designer known for his creations of glass art, perfume bottles, vases, jewellery, chandeliers, clocks, and automobile hood ornaments. Life Lalique ...

and some of the most important painters of all times works such as

Rembrandt Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn (; ; 15 July 1606 – 4 October 1669), mononymously known as Rembrandt was a Dutch Golden Age painter, printmaker, and Drawing, draughtsman. He is generally considered one of the greatest visual artists in ...

Monet Oscar-Claude Monet (, ; ; 14 November 1840 – 5 December 1926) was a French painter and founder of Impressionism painting who is seen as a key precursor to modernism, especially in his attempts to paint nature as he perceived it. During his ...

Rubens Sir Peter Paul Rubens ( ; ; 28 June 1577 – 30 May 1640) was a Flemish artist and diplomat. He is considered the most influential artist of the Flemish Baroque tradition. Rubens' highly charged compositions reference erudite aspects of clas ...

, Manet,

Renoir Pierre-Auguste Renoir (; ; 25 February 1841 – 3 December 1919) was a French artist who was a leading painter in the development of the Impressionist style. As a celebrator of beauty and especially feminine sensuality, it has been said that ...

Degas Edgar Degas (, ; born Hilaire-Germain-Edgar De Gas, ; 19 July 183427 September 1917) was a French people, French Impressionism, Impressionist artist famous for his pastel drawings and oil paintings. Degas also produced bronze sculptures, Print ...

and

Turner Turner may refer to: People and fictional characters * Turner (surname), a common surname, including a list of people and fictional characters with the name * Turner (given name), a list of people with the given name *One who uses a lathe for tur ...

Collection

Portrait of a Young Woman - Domenico GhirlandaioFXD

The permanent exhibition and galleries are distributed chronologically and in geographical order to create two independent circuits within the overall tour. The first circuit highlights

Greco-Roman The Greco-Roman world , also Greco-Roman civilization, Greco-Roman culture or Greco-Latin culture (spelled Græco-Roman or Graeco-Roman in British English), as understood by modern scholars and writers, includes the geographical regions and co ...

art from

classical antiquity Classical antiquity, also known as the classical era, classical period, classical age, or simply antiquity, is the period of cultural History of Europe, European history between the 8th century BC and the 5th century AD comprising the inter ...

, as well as art from the

ancient Near East The ancient Near East was home to many cradles of civilization, spanning Mesopotamia, Egypt, Iran (or Persia), Anatolia and the Armenian highlands, the Levant, and the Arabian Peninsula. As such, the fields of ancient Near East studies and Nea ...

and the

Nile Valley The Nile (also known as the Nile River or River Nile) is a major north-flowing river in northeastern Africa. It flows into the Mediterranean Sea. The Nile is the longest river in Africa. It has historically been considered the longest river i ...

. Among the artworks are ancient

Egyptian ''Egyptian'' describes something of, from, or related to Egypt. Egyptian or Egyptians may refer to: Nations and ethnic groups * Egyptians, a national group in North Africa ** Egyptian culture, a complex and stable culture with thousands of year ...

Mesopotamian Mesopotamia is a historical region of West Asia situated within the Tigris–Euphrates river system, in the northern part of the Fertile Crescent. Today, Mesopotamia is known as present-day Iraq and forms the eastern geographic boundary o ...

Persian Persian may refer to: * People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language ** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples ** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...

, and

Armenian Armenian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Armenia, a country in the South Caucasus region of Eurasia * Armenians, the national people of Armenia, or people of Armenian descent ** Armenian diaspora, Armenian communities around the ...

pieces, as well as Persian art from the

Islam Islam is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the Quran, and the teachings of Muhammad. Adherents of Islam are called Muslims, who are estimated to number Islam by country, 2 billion worldwide and are the world ...

ic period. The second circuit includes

European art The art of Europe, also known as Western art, encompasses the history of visual art in Europe. European prehistoric art started as mobile Upper Paleolithic rock and cave painting and petroglyph art and was characteristic of the period betw ...

, with sections dedicated to the art of the book, sculpture, painting and the

decorative arts ] The decorative arts are arts or crafts whose aim is the design and manufacture of objects that are both beautiful and functional. This includes most of the objects for the interiors of buildings, as well as interior design, but typically excl ...

, particularly 18th century

French art French art consists of the visual and plastic arts (including French architecture, woodwork, textiles, and ceramics) originating from the geographical area of France. Modern France was the main centre for the European art of the Upper Paleoli ...

and the work of

. In this circuit, a wide-ranging number of pieces reflect various European artistic trends from the beginning of the 11th century to the mid-20th century. The section begins with works in ivory and illuminated

manuscript A manuscript (abbreviated MS for singular and MSS for plural) was, traditionally, any document written by hand or typewritten, as opposed to mechanically printed or reproduced in some indirect or automated way. More recently, the term has ...

books, followed by a selection of 15th, 16th and 17th century sculptures and paintings.

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) is a Periodization, period of history and a European cultural movement covering the 15th and 16th centuries. It marked the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and was characterized by an effort to revive and sur ...

art produced in the Netherlands,

Flanders Flanders ( or ; ) is the Dutch language, Dutch-speaking northern portion of Belgium and one of the communities, regions and language areas of Belgium. However, there are several overlapping definitions, including ones related to culture, la ...

, France and Italy is on display in the next room. French 18th century decorative art has a special place in the museum, with outstanding gold and silver objects and furniture, as well as paintings and sculptures. This section is followed by galleries exhibiting a large group of paintings by the Venetian

Francesco Guardi Francesco Lazzaro Guardi (; 5 October 1712 – 1 January 1793) was an Italian painter, nobleman, and a member of the Venetian School (art), Venetian School. He is considered to be among the last practitioners, along with his brothers, of the clas ...

, 18th and 19th century English paintings, and finally a superb collection of jewels and glass by

, displayed in its own room. Some of the works in the collection were bought during the

Soviet sale of Hermitage paintings The Soviet sale of Hermitage paintings in 1930 and 1931 resulted in the departure of some of the most valuable paintings from the collection of the State Hermitage Museum in Leningrad to Western museums. Several of the paintings had been in the He ...

. Of about 6000 items in the museum's collections, a selection of around 1000 is on permanent exhibition. Gulbenkian's motto was "only the best"; hence the museum has masterpieces by western European artists such as

Domenico Ghirlandaio Domenico di Tommaso Curradi di Doffo Bigordi (2 June 1448 – 11 January 1494), professionally known as Domenico Ghirlandaio (also spelt as Ghirlandajo), was an Italian Renaissance painter born in Florence. Ghirlandaio was part of the so-c ...

Rodin François Auguste René Rodin (; ; 12 November 184017 November 1917) was a French sculptor generally considered the founder of modern sculpture. He was schooled traditionally and took a craftsman-like approach to his work. Rodin possessed a u ...

, Carpeaux, Houdon,

Dierick Bouts Dieric Bouts (born – 6 May 1475) was an Early Netherlandish painter. Bouts may have studied under Rogier van der Weyden, and his work was influenced by van der Weyden and Jan van Eyck. He worked in Leuven from 1457 (or possibly earlier) until ...

Vittore Carpaccio Vittore Carpaccio ( , , ; – ) was an Italian painter of the Venetian School (art), Venetian school who studied under Gentile Bellini. Carpaccio was largely influenced by the style of the early Italian Renaissance painter Antonello da Messina ...

Cima da Conegliano Giovanni Battista Cima, also called Cima da Conegliano (), was an Italian Renaissance painter, who mostly worked in Venice. He can be considered part of the Venetian school (art), Venetian school, though he was also influenced by Antonello da ...

Van Dyck Sir Anthony van Dyck (; ; 22 March 1599 – 9 December 1641) was a Flemish Baroque artist who became the leading court painter in England after success in the Spanish Netherlands and Italy. The seventh child of Frans van Dyck, a wealt ...

Corot CoRoT (French: ; English: Convection, Rotation and planetary Transits) was a space telescope mission which operated from 2006 to 2013. The mission's two objectives were to search for extrasolar planets with short orbital periods, particularly t ...

, Nattier, George Romney,

Stefan Lochner Stefan Lochner (the ''Dombild Master'' or ''Master Stefan''; c. 1410 – late 1451) was a German painter working in the late International Gothic period. His paintings combine that era's tendency toward long flowing lines and brilliant colours ...

, Maurice-Quentin de La Tour,

Édouard Manet Édouard Manet (, ; ; 23 January 1832 – 30 April 1883) was a French Modernism, modernist painter. He was one of the first 19th-century artists to paint modern life, as well as a pivotal figure in the transition from Realism (art movement), R ...

Henri Fantin-Latour Henri Fantin-Latour (; 14 January 1836 – 25 August 1904) was a French painter and lithographer best known for his flower paintings and group portraits of Parisian artists and writers. Early life Born in Grenoble, Isère, Ignace Henri Jean Th� ...

Claude Monet Oscar-Claude Monet (, ; ; 14 November 1840 – 5 December 1926) was a French painter and founder of Impressionism painting who is seen as a key precursor to modernism, especially in his attempts to paint nature as he perceived it. During his ...

Jean-François Millet Jean-François Millet (; 4 October 1814 – 20 January 1875) was a French artist and one of the founders of the Barbizon school in rural France. Millet is noted for his paintings of peasant farmers and can be categorized as part of the Realis ...

, Sir Edward Burne-Jones,

Thomas Gainsborough Thomas Gainsborough (; 14 May 1727 (baptised) – 2 August 1788) was an English portrait and landscape painter, draughtsman, and printmaker. Along with his rival Sir Joshua Reynolds, he is considered one of the most important British artists o ...

Joseph Mallord William Turner Joseph Mallord William Turner (23 April 177519 December 1851), known in his time as William Turner, was an English Romantic painter, printmaker and watercolourist. He is known for his expressive colouring, imaginative landscapes and turbu ...

Jean-Honoré Fragonard Jean-Honoré Fragonard (; 5 April 1732 (birth/baptism certificate) – 22 August 1806) was a French painter and printmaker whose late Rococo manner was distinguished by remarkable facility, exuberance, and hedonism. One of the most prolific art ...

Giovanni Battista Moroni Giovanni Battista Moroni, also known as Giambattista Moroni ( – 5 February 1578) was an Italian painter of the Mannerist school. Best known for his elegantly realistic portraits of the local nobility and clergy, he is considered one of the g ...

Frans Hals Frans Hals the Elder (, ; ; – 26 August 1666) was a Dutch Golden Age painter. He lived and worked in Haarlem, a city in which the local authority of the day frowned on religious painting in places of worship but citizens liked to decorate thei ...

, Ruisdael, Boucher, Largillière,

Andrea della Robbia Andrea della Robbia (20 October 14354 August 1525) was an Italian Renaissance sculptor, especially in ceramics. Biography Born in Florence, Robbia was the son of Marco della Robbia, whose brother, Luca della Robbia, popularized the use of g ...

Pisanello Pisanello (), born Antonio di Puccio Pisano or Antonio di Puccio da Cereto, also erroneously called Vittore Pisano by Giorgio Vasari, was one of the most distinguished painters of the early Italian Renaissance and Quattrocento. He was acclaimed b ...

Jean-Baptiste Pigalle Jean-Baptiste Pigalle (; 26 January 1714 – 20 August 1785) was a French sculptor whose work was influenced by both baroque and neo-classical trends. Life Pigalle was born in Paris, the seventh child of a carpenter. Although he failed to ob ...

Antonio Rossellino Antonio Gamberelli (1427–1479), Janson, H.W. (1995) ''History of Art''. 5th edn. Revised and expanded by Anthony F. Janson. London: Thames & Hudson, p. 465. nicknamed Antonio Rossellino for the colour of his hair, was an Italian Renaissance ...

André-Charles Boulle André-Charles Boulle (11 November 164229 February 1732), ''le joailler du meuble'' (the "furniture jeweller"), became the most famous French Cabinet making, cabinetmaker and the preeminent artist in the field of marquetry, also known as "inlay". ...

Charles Cressent Charles Cressent (1685–1768) was a French furniture-maker, sculptor and fondeur-ciseleur of the régence style. As the second son of François Cressent, sculpteur du roi, and grandson of Charles Cressent, a furniture-maker of Amiens, who also ...

, Oeben, Riesener, Antoine-Sébastien Durand, Charles Spire, Jean Deforges,

François-Thomas Germain François-Thomas Germain (1726–1791) was a French silversmith who was often commissioned by European royalty. In addition to his work for the French court, François-Thomas Germain also received notable commissions from foreign courts, including ...

. Gulbenkian's Centro de Arte Moderna (CAM) also actively commissions and collects works to add to its holdings, today numbering 12,000 pieces.

History

Vasco Maria Eugénio de Almeida acquired part of the Parque de Santa Gertrudes, in April 1957, for the construction of the Foundation buildings and public/private park. Two years later, a competition was launched for a project to construct the organization's headquarters. It was eventually won by the team that included architects Alberto J. Pessoa, Pedro Cid and Ruy Jervis d'Athouguia (1917-2006), in addition to the landscaping architects António Viana Barreto and

Gonçalo Ribeiro Telles Gonçalo Pereira Ribeiro Telles (25 May 1922 – 11 November 2020) was a Portugal, Portuguese politician and landscape architect. He was born and died in Lisbon. He was a founder of the People's Monarchist Party (Portugal), People's Monarc ...

, who were responsible for designing the park surrounding the building. Later, Francisco Caetano Keil do Amaral was added to the team, as a consultant, and Frederico Henrique George joined the team working on the building. In December 1961, the anterior project of the park was begun, while work on the earthworks and retaining walls beginning the following year. A sculpture panel was installed in the headquarters building by architect Artur Rosa in 1962. By 1967, the interior finishing were adjudicated, with the project concluded in 1968. On 2 October 1969, the buildings and gardens were inaugurated. Pierre-Auguste Renoir 071

The 12th International Federation of Landscaping Architects Congress was held in September 1970 on the grounds of the Gulbenkian Foundation. In 1975, the property was distinguished with the Valmor Prize. After 21 years of acquisitions, more than three years of construction and a lively controversy generated by conservationists, Gulbenkian's Centro de Arte Moderna (CAM) was opened in 1983 as Portugal's first museum of modern art. In 2024, CAM re-opened after a €58 million redevelopment.

Architecture

The museum was designed as a showcase for the collection, which was relatively unique for an art museum at a time when most museums were housed in buildings originally built for other purposes. The landscaping and museum building interact, with views into woods and wetlands punctuating the artwork on display, while woodland paths offer views of the dramatic building, the edges of which include terraces and water features that blur the border between built and natural environment. The grouped buildings are set within a park bordered by the ''Avenida de Berna'' (north), ''Avenida António Augusto de Aguiar'' (west), ''Rua Marquês de Sá da Bandeira'' (east) and the ''Centro de Arte Moderna'' (south). The shape of the museum and headquarters is relatively simple, with T-shaped wings, each with an entrance. The massive volume, long and horizontal was used for administration, services and as auditoriums, off of the main, single entry space. It is in this entrance that the panel ''Começar'', by

Almada Negreiros José Sobral de Almada Negreiros, usually known as Almada Negreiros (7 April 1893 – 15 June 1970), was a Portuguese artist. He was born in the colony of Portuguese São Tomé and Príncipe, the son of a Portuguese father, António Lobo de Al ...

is situated. Designed by the British architect

Leslie Martin Sir John Leslie Martin (17 August 1908, in Manchester – 28 July 2000) was an English architect, and a leading advocate of the International Style. Martin's most famous building is the Royal Festival Hall. His work was especially influenced ...

, CAM's original building has been a three-story structure with a vast single-room gallery consisting of interconnecting floors; movable panels provide for maximum flexibility in arranging exhibits. The 2024 redevelopment of CAM was carried out by Kengo Kuma and Associates. The most prominent addition is a 100m-long entrance canopy clad in dark planks of ash with handmade white tiles on top, based on the Japanese

engawa An or is an edging strip of non-tatami-matted flooring in Japanese architecture, usually wood or bamboo. The may run around the rooms, on the outside of the building, in which case they resemble a porch or sunroom. Usually, the is outside t ...

. The architects also moved the main entrance of the museum from north to south.

Directors

* 2015–2020:

Penelope Curtis Penelope Curtis (born 1961) is a British art historian and curator. Fom 2015 to 2020 she was the director of Lisbon's Museu Calouste Gulbenkian, and from 2010 to 2015 director of Tate Britain. She is the author of several monographs on sculptu ...

Tim Cornwell (30 October 2017)
Former Tate Britain director Penelope Curtis remaps Lisbon's Gulbenkian
�''

The Art Newspaper ''The Art Newspaper'' is a monthly print publication, with daily updates online, founded in 1990 and based in London and New York City. It covers news of the visual arts as they are affected by international politics and economics, developments i ...

''. * 2020–present: António Filipe Pimentel

References

Notes

Sources

* * * * * * * * *

External links

Virtual tour of the Calouste Gulbenkian Museum
provided by

Google Arts & Culture Google Arts & Culture (formerly Google Art Project) is an online platform of high-resolution images and videos of artworks and cultural artifacts from partner cultural organizations throughout the world, operated by Google. It utilizes high-re ...

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