The solo exhibition of the Portuguese artist Nadir Afonso (1920–2013) at the Calouste Gulbenkian Paris Branch, the Centre Culturel Portugais (CCP) was organised in the context of his activities as a grantee of the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation (FCG) since 1968. This exhibition was organised by Joaquim Veríssimo Serrão, Director of the CCP, and by the artist himself.

Enthusiastic about the interest that the exhibition aroused in the French capital, Nadir Afonso asked the FCG Fine Arts Department to repeat the event in Lisbon, following the conclusion of his grant (on October 15, 1970) and his return to Portugal. In fact, the exhibition in Paris gathered more than 1,200 visitors (Note by the Calouste Gulbenkian Paris Branch, the Centre Culturel Portugais (CCP), 1 Oct. 1970, Gulbenkian Archives, PRS 04764).

Taking into account “the prestige enjoyed by the artist in France, Switzerland and in our country”, the “proof given of his craft” and the “high level” achieved by the event in Paris, the FCG Board of Directors authorised the assembly  of the exhibition at the Temporary Exhibitions Galleries of the new Gulbenkian Museum, and appointed Artur Nobre de Gusmão, Director of the FCG Fine Arts Department, as coordinator (Note by the Fine Arts Department, 3 Sep. 1970, Gulbenkian Archives, SBA 15703).

The Lisbon edition introduced some changes in the layout compared with the one presented in Paris. These alterations, proposed by the artist himself, “only met the desire to provide us with (...) a broader view of the artist’s work” (Nadir Afonso, 1970).

After the closure of the exhibition, the FCG Board of Directors decided to acquire two of Nadir Afonso’s exhibited works (Espacilimitado, 1958 and Perspectiva II, 1965), considering to be “very important to represent Nadir Afonso in the Foundation’s collections, which had no work by the artist yet” (Note by the Fine Arts Department, 10 Dec. 1970, Gulbenkian Archives, SBA 12903). Wishing to acknowledge FCG’s support, the artist decided to donate Perspectiva II, so only the first work was purchased.

Finally, it should be noted that this exhibition inaugurated a series of exhibitions of FCG grantees which, as a “real contribution to the Portuguese artistic life”, justified the regulation of grants:

“Every time a grantee intends to set up an exhibition in the country or abroad during their grant’s period or following it immediately, within a year after the end of the grant, they shall propose to the Foundation in advance to promote such an exhibition in any of its galleries. In order to do so, they must submit to the Foundation a structured plan and description of the exhibition for evaluation.” (Nadir Afonso, 1970)