The year 1972 marked a hundred years since the birth of painter António Carneiro (Amarante, Portugal, 1872-Porto, Portugal, 1930), however, for several reasons (including the importance of the planned exhibition and an intensive supporting programme of events, the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation (FCG) was unable to guarantee that the event would take place that year. It was therefore announced that the event would be delayed until a few months after the anniversary, rather than finding another solution that could be damaging to the exhibition and studying of the painter's work (António Carneiro 1872-1930: Exposição Retrospectiva ..., 1973, p. 3).
According to José-Augusto França (1922), the exhibition's curator, the retrospective would commemorate one of the greatest Portuguese artists of the 19th century, who introduced a symbolist dimension to our painting (ibid., p. 9).
The António Carneiro exhibition paid special attention to the artist's work, placing his life story in second place, with the pieces organised chronologically and by theme. The event's overall themes were Symbolism and History Painting, Portraits, Landscapes, Church Interiors, Watercolours, Drawings and Illustrations and Illustrations of the Divine Comedy, coming to a total of 244 works.
The exhibition was accompanied by a broad programme of cultural events. There were conferences with invited speakers including Philippe Julien (1919-1977), Sant'Anna Dionísio (1902-1991) and José-Augusto França; a press conference was also held, with José Sommer Ribeiro (1924-2006) and José-Augusto França, during an innovative private viewing for journalists and specialist critics before the opening. Several guided tours were also carries out, with Artur Nobre de Gusmão (1920-2001), Fernando Guedes (1929-2016), Rocha de Sousa (1938) and Philippe Jullian, and even a concert to pay homage to composer Cláudio Carneiro (1895-1963), António Carneiro's son.
As well as the exhibition catalogue, the monograph António Carneiro (1973), written by José-Augusto França, was also published for the exhibition and contains an in-depth study of the painter's life and work.
After the exhibition in Lisbon, it went to the city of Porto, where the FCG supported, produced and set up the exhibition at the Museu Nacional de Soares dos Reis, with the help of Porto city council.