Museum of Contemporary Art – MAC/CCB — Attraction in Lisbon

The collection goes through chronological order of contemporary art. Each room explains the evolution of modern/contemporary art with good historical context. I wish that there was more information about the art movement specifically in Portugal throughout these periods. The art selection is good in that they focus on artists and figures that are big name and considered important to each period. I was surprised by the amount of Andy Warhol that they had in the collection, including two wonderful photographs that are very easy to recognize. It was disappointing though to see the lack of female artists. I wasn’t keeping track exactly but the permanent collection on display was frustratingly male. I am pretty sure there were 4 or less females featured. Along with lack of female work, the descriptions of each period did little critical work. I wish the director would push the envelope more with the selected works and theory behind them. I through that the -1 floor did the best job at this, but to my understanding this floor’s purpose is a departure from that of the permanent collection.

Each room was well put together though. Complementary works were positioned beautifully in each room with ideal situations for each work (which is hard to do!) The museum had excellent flow, even without arrows, people were not bumping into each other or blocking views of work at any point. In addition, there was a great amount of art education happening with the chronological tale being told. The €5 admissions fee is a good price point to see the collection once; but I am not sure if I would pay the full €5 admission again without some slight changes to the collection (ideally more emphasis on Portuguese artists) The CCB does have a beautiful building and gardens which I believe are free, but most definitely worth visiting in conjunction to...

The collection of the Museu Coleção Berardo is representative of the fine arts of the 20th century and early 21st century. The collection covers major movements from surrealism to pop art, hyper-realism, minimalist art to conceptual art, presented in various media. It covers Portuguese modern and contemporary art in particular. The museum also hosts temporary exhibitions that change on a regular basis. This museum is named after Joe Berardo, who was born in Funchal in Madeira and made his fortune in mining in South Africa before returning to Portugal. He is an inveterate collector, starting as a schoolboy with stamps, postcards and matchboxes before graduating to modern and contemporary art in the 1980s. His various collections, which include art deco and Chinese porcelain, encompass more than 40,000 works, of which some 1,200 are by well-known modern and contemporary artists with a reported value of $750 million. Much of his art collection has in the past been used as collateral to borrow from banks. Berardo first displayed his collection in 1997 at an old casino in Sintra, before moving to the current location, the Centro Cultural de Belém. By agreement with the Portuguese Government, a foundation (Fundação de Arte Moderna e Contemporânea—Colecção Berardo) was created to support the housing of his art collection of roughly 1,800 works. Much as Spain did with the Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum in Madrid, the government agreed to house part of his collection and took a 10-year option to buy 862 paintings and sculptures for 316 million euros, based on a Christie's...

I was on the fence about visiting this museum based on the reviews I'd read about it which were very mixed. But decided to because my husband really wanted to go.

In retrospect I was really happy we went! The museum itself is in this huge complex and was much larger and better organized than we'd anticipated. One thing I really loved about it was that artwork was organized chronologically into interesting collections with contextual information included in each gallery. It was the perfect way to display these works for someone who's interested in learning more about the history of modern art and the various sub-movements by country.

Others have complained that many of the works are lesser known works by major artists...but for me I found that aspect enlightening. We've visited a lot of art museums around the world and viewed many artists major works. But viewing their lesser known works was, I felt, really educational. I left with a better appreciation of several artists I thought previously I'd known enough about.

I was also really impressed with their sections of Portuguese artists and the entire floor dedicated to Brazilian artwork. That floor alone was really amazing! Both the exhibit space and the artwork included were wonderful.

If you love modern art this museum is well worth your...