This retrospective and commemorative exhibition of the work of Alvar Aalto [Alvar Aalto Memorial Exhibition] opened at the Temporary Exhibitions Gallery in the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation Main Building (Lower Ground Floor) on 18 January 1983, closing on 6 March the same year.
The exhibition opening was attended by the Minister of Culture, the Culture Secretary of the Ministry of Education of Finland, Elissa Aalto, Alvar Aalto's widow, and the director of the Suomen arkkitehtuurimuseo [Finnish Architecture Museum].
Previously shown in London, New York and Madrid, the exhibition, of a considerable size, comprised 90 photography panels displaying Alvar Aalto's (1898-1976) architecture work, four paintings, 40 drawings, 10 models, around 40 pieces of furniture, household utensils and flower vases. A total of 236 architecture, design and painting pieces were displayed, together with reproductions of articles and texts from conferences, which helped trace the Finnish architect's way of thinking.
The exhibition's journey began in 1978 at Filandia-talo [the House of Finland] in Helsinki, shortly after Alvar Aalto died, from where it departed for Denmark, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom and the United States. The exhibition had been planned to travel to other European countries and Asia.
After it was held in Lisbon, the exhibition opened in Porto, at the Casa do Infante, between 2 and 14 May 1983, and institutional contacts were made with the aim of taking Alvar Aalto's work to the Palácio D. Manuel in Évora. However, the exhibition was not in fact held there and instead moved on immediately to Rome. The Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation (FCG) helped produce the exhibition in Portugal but did not participate in its international tour.
A seminar was held as part of the exhibition programme on Figura, obra e sua influência na Arquitectura Portuguesa [Person, work and his influence on Portuguese architecture], proposed by Arquitectos, the journal of the Southern Region Section of the Association of Portuguese Architects. The seminar was held over two days in Auditorium 3 at the FCG and included the participation of Nuno Portas, Souto Moura, Joaquim Braizinha, Charters Monteiro, Hestnes Ferreira, Manuel Tainha, Gonçalo Byrne and Duarte Cabral de Melo. A conference was also held under the title Filosofia da Arquitectura de Alvar Aalto [Alvar Aalto's Architecture Philosophy], given by Karlo Leppanen with comments by Elissa Aalto and Leslie Martin.
The set-up of the exhibition, formed of pre-fabricated panels, was overseen by Kaarlo Lappannen, who had worked with Alvar Aalto, helped by technical staff who travelled especially from Finland. The exhibition space was punctuated by plants since, as well as displaying architectural projects, paintings and furniture, some containers designed for holding flowers and plants were also included.
As José-Augusto França points out, the panels were connected by chronology and by type, giving visitors a lesson in modern architecture from the beginning of the 20th century.
The exhibition catalogue was drawn up using materials provided by the Finnish Architecture Museum published in a Portuguese version.
The exhibition was visited by 23,380 people in Lisbon between 18 January and 6 March 1983. The document containing visitor information also states that guided tours were carried out with groups from Porto, Espinho, Aveiro, Coimbra, Setúbal, Beja, Évora and Almada.
The exhibition was widely publicised in the Portuguese press. Reviews were generally positive, as in the article Alvar Aalto na Gulbenkian ou a arquitectura como poesia in the O Primeiro de Janeiro: And the great exhibition of his work, currently open at the Gulbenkian Foundation, is an invitation for dialogue that cannot to be missed. Extremely well designed, the exhibition manages to, moreover, using carefully arranged panels, give another dimension by the proper positioning of furniture, pictures and objects, restore the intimacy of his projects. And the catalogue is an excellent repository of the guidelines of his thinking, which helps frame and understand his projects (M.G., O Primeiro de Janeiro, 28 Jan. 1983).
An article in O Dia is formed of excerpts of interviews with architects as part of the exhibition opening, with a statement from Pedro Vieira de Almeida who underlines the importance of the event: It is an extremely important exhibition (...) because all of Aalto's work poses critical and always current problems (Exposição de Alvar Aalto na Gulbenkian, Figura cimeira da arquitectura moderna, O Dia, 20 Jan. 1983). This idea was reinforced by José-Augusto França in Colóquio. Artes, where he highlights the extraordinary interest of the exhibition.