The Berardo Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art

Profile

Since the opening of Museu Colecção Berardo, in June 25, 2007, Lisbon is part of the Modern and Contemporary Art map. There would certainly be a great void if a museum dedicated to modern and contemporary art was missing in Lisbon. Such a space is now a reality presented to the international and Portuguese visitors who come to Lisbon in search of new cultural references.
This was also the dream of a great Portuguese collector, José Berardo, whose passion for today's art, together with his unrelenting perseverance, managed to fill in that gap by establishing this new institution in Lisbon: The Berardo Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art (Museu Berardo - Colecção de Arte Moderna e Contemporânea).
Presently counting with more than 1000 works in its collection, the new Museum occupies the Exhibition Centre of the Centro Cultural de Belém (Cultural Centre of Belém) and follows an organized program, developed in a museological perspective, which allows the rotation between the several art movements that compose the Berardo Collection.
In view of attracting a diversified public, the Museum also includes in its program the exchange of temporary exhibitions (in partnership with other national and international institutions), as well as other cultural activities such as conferences, thematic visits, publications, and other instruments for the promotion and diffusion of the Museum and modern and contemporary art in the Portuguese society, promoting creativity and the integration of Portuguese artists in the international scene.

The Collection

The Berardo Collection is internationally acclaimed as a significant art collection that, in addition to its valuable core of works of excellence, also allows us to accompany the main artistic movements of the 20th century. The representation of more than 70 artistic tendencies demonstrates the strong museological and didactic inclination of this collection, in itself an unquenchable source of creativity and innovation possibilities, not only through the richness of its contents but also because, not being a static collection (the new acquisitions will keep an updated status of authors and works), it allows different and state-of-the-art readings of contemporary art.

The Museum Project

The Berardo Museum - Modern and Contemporary Art Collection was created through the publication of the Decree-Law 164/2006 on the 9th of August 2006 with the goal of establishing a permanent Museum based on the Collection, and located in the Exhibition Centre (Module 3) of Centro Cultural de Belém.

The setting up of the Berardo Collection as a permanent Museum is of particular importance since this is the largest and most important private collection of 20th century art in Portugal. The transition of the private collection into the public domain will allow Portugal to be acquainted with the evolution of international art, encompassing all of the main artistic tendencies of the 20th century.