MUSEU DE ARTE CONTEMPORANEA SERRALVES
In August 2019 before the onset of the pandemic, we took our last overseas trip, to Porto and Lisbon.
Porto is of course famous for the River Douro, its vineyards and port wines, and also for its stunning architecture, much of it covered in ‘azulegos’, painted tin-glazed ceramic tilework.
A highlight of the trip was a visit to the Museu de Arte Contemporanea Serralves. Set in a country park between the west side of the city and the Atlantic Ocean the museum holds a series of temporary exhibitions, using both the internal galleries and the parkland outside. Our visit coincided with an exhibition of works by Olafur Eliasson, ‘Your Future Is Now’ (those of you who know me will already know that he is a particular favourite artist of mine). The exhibition included an installation ‘Human Time Is Movement (Winter), Human Time Is Movement (Spring), Human Time Is Movement (Summer)’ illustrated here. The three works are variations on the mathematical form known as the Clelia curve. The curve traces a point moving simultaneously along a sphere’s meridian and rotating at constant speed around its axis, like an orange being peeled or a ball of string being wound.
The park also includes works from previous exhibitions by Claes Oldenburg ‘Giant Red Trowel’ and Anish Kapoor ‘Sky Mirror’. It is when I am off the beaten track of the international art market and museum circuit, away from the crowds and the razzamatazz that I often have the most enjoyable and rewarding rewarding art viewing experiences. Visiting this museum of the highest quality was a perfect example of this.
From the museum it is a short drive (or a twenty minute walk) to the Praia da Luz overlooking the ocean, with its beachside bars and restaurants. South of there the tram (linha 1) takes you along the riverbank and back into the city.
Porto is one of my favourite cities: it is compact, vibrant and stimulating. I look forward to my next visit. From Porto it is a very easy three hour trip by train to Lisbon. We made this trip on July 14th 2019, and during the journey listened to the BBC cricket commentary of the Cricket World Cup Final, a victory for England over New Zealand in what is regarded as being the greatest one day cricket match in history.
AZULEJOS, SIDEWALKS AND STREET ART
A unique and beautiful museum to visit in Lisbon is the Museo Nacional do Azulejo (The National Tile Museum). Painted, glazed ceramic tiles are an important part of Portugal’s cultural and architectural heritage and are visible on building facades both in Lisbon and elsewhere in Portugal and its former colonies. The museum collection spans eight centuries of tile manufacture and includes examples from across the world. Housed in a former convent it is an exhaustive and thorough collection: I found the museum itself to be slightly predictable and old fashioned, it did not inspire me as much as I had anticipated, but the tiles themselves are at times breathtaking.
In the city itself ‘azulejos’ can be seen on and inside buildings everywhere, not only on buildings of historical significance but also in run of the mill shops, cafes and residential buildings. A walk through any part of the city throws up examples at almost every step and when I was there I took many photographs of them.