Colóquio – Circa 1956

‘The year of Robert Walser’s death is the year the Gulbenkian Foundation was established – 1956, annus mirabilis in the history of the Gulbenkian, which celebrates its 70th anniversary in 2026. But that is not all: Robert Walser’s death, which occurred on Christmas Day, also gave rise to several important events, including a very special Branca de Neve, without which Portuguese cinema would certainly not be the same. This issue, number 222, is therefore a double celebration: both of the literary and artistic achievements of such a special leap year—which saw the emergence of poetic works such as those by Pedro Tamen or John Ashbery, poets such as Ana Luísa Amaral, magazines such as Búzio, essential books by authors such as Guimarães Rosa, James Baldwin, Eugenio Montale and Mário Cesariny, albums such as Orfeu da Conceição, photographic essays such as those by Gérard Castello-Lopes, and even the Alvalade Stadium—as well as an institutional history spanning seven decades, the beginning of which is symbolically marked here by the publication of previously unpublished documents by Almada relating to the panel Começar, and whose development, grounded in the philanthropic strength of the four fundamental pillars established by the Founder—art, education, science and charity—is clearly evident in the unveiling of a remarkable, previously unpublished study carried out by Ruben A. in the late 1960s.’

From the editorial by Joana Matos Frias