The exhibition “Only the Best. Masterpieces of the Calouste Gulbenkian Museum” brought a selection of the most celebrated pieces from the Calouste Gulbenkian Collection to The Metropolitan Museum of Art (MET) in New York. It was the result of a partnership between the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation (FCG) and the MET, with the support of the Hagop Kevorkian Fund and the Kossak Family Foundation.

The initiative was part of a concerted effort by the Calouste Gulbenkian Museum (MCG) to organize exhibitions abroad, showcasing the extensive collection of Calouste Sarkis Gulbenkian as, from 3 October 1999 to 20 July 2001, the museum was closed for extensive renovation works – the first since it opened in October 1969. This renovation was led by Belgian architect Paul Vandebotermet, working in collaboration with designer Jorge Pacheco and architect José Sommer Ribeiro, who acted as a consultant.

On show in one of the world’s most prestigious museums from 16 November 1999 to 27 February 2000, “Only the Best” was the first of three exhibitions to take place abroad during this period. Over the course of the year 2000, the FCG also partnered with Fundación Banco Santander Central Hispano to present “Un Jardín Encantado. Arte Islámico en la Colección Calouste Gulbenkian” (“An Enchanted Garden. Islamic Art in the Calouste Gulbenkian Collection”), and with the Palace of Versailles, which hosted the exhibition “Chefs-d'œuvre du Musée Gulbenkian. Meubles et Objets Royaux du XVIIIe Siècle Français” (“Masterpieces of the Gulbenkian Museum. Royal Furniture and Artifacts of 18th Century France”), the third and final of these international initiatives, which featured a treasure trove of pieces related to the French decorative arts and a selection of rare books.

The exhibition at the MET spanned a total of 80 pieces belonging to various areas of the Gulbenkian Collection – Egyptian art, Islamic art, 18th century French decorative arts and European painting – which stood out for its idiosyncratic nature and for revealing, in the words of Pedro Tamen, “the specific taste of one man” (Reis, Público, 28 Jul 1999).

When choosing the pieces, the organisers sought to maintain a coherent discourse, the priority being “to pay homage to the Founder of the collection, one of the most prominent art collectors in the Western world in the first half of the twentieth century” (“Em Nova Iorque no Metropolitan Museum of Art. Só o melhor do Sr. Gulbenkian”, Casa & Jardim, Feb 2000). This selection process was left in the hands of two experts from the MET, Katharine Baetjer, curator of the Department of European Paintings, and James David Draper, curator of the Department of European Sculpture and Decorative Arts, with the support of professionals from the MCG.

Katharine Baetjer travelled to Lisbon to select the very “best” pieces in person, with the assistance of experts from the FCG’s Central Department. According to the exhibition’s curator, the main selection criteria “were rarity and condition, which had to be ‘very good’” (“‘Only the Best’: Metropolitan elogia peças únicas da Gulbenkian”, Agência Lusa, 13 Nov 1999). “During the initial selection phase, the FCG’s Central Department offered us wonderful pieces, but we were unable to accept all of them due to a lack of space. We tried to choose smaller items, for example pieces of Egyptian art, which are exceptional, and certain textiles that we don’t have at the Metropolitan”, explained the MET curator, speaking to Agência Lusa (Ibid.).

The exhibition occupied eight small rooms, grouped into two main areas: Oriental and Islamic art and Western art. The former, dominated by Islamic art objects – one of the richest and more important areas of the Gulbenkian collection – featured pieces including two gold medallions from the Aboukir Treasure, dating from the 3rd century BC, a Persian earthenware cup from the 7th - 8th century and two glass Mosque lamps from the Mamluk period, inviting visitors to embark on a journey, guided by the personal taste of the Armenian collector (Caetano, Diário de Notícias, 17 Nov 1999, p. 49).

The second area – devoted to Western art – showcases a series of objects related to Christianity, the oldest being an ivory diptych depicting scenes from the life of Christ, produced by a Parisian workshop, which dates back to the 14th century (Inv. 133) (“Em Nova Iorque no Metropolitan Museum of Art. Só o melhor do Sr. Gulbenkian”, Casa & Jardim, Feb 2000).

18th century French decorative arts also adorned the MET Exhibition Gallery, with a “sumptuous Charles Cressent Money box and a set of silverware from the Paris workshops of Antoine Sébastian Durand and François Thomas-Germain, including a pair of mustard pots that once belonged to Madame Pompadour, whose coat of arms embellishes their lavish original protective case” (Ibid.).

“Only the Best” also showcased a selection of European paintings, chosen to fill “gaps” in the MET collection and foster dialogue between pieces belonging to the permanent collection of the New York museum and works from the collection of Calouste Sarkis Gulbenkian. Highlights included the canvas Shipwreck by Joseph Mallord William Turner (1775-1851), and the juxtaposition of the portraits of Hélène de Fourment, by Peter Paul Rubens (1577-1640) and Elizabeth Lowndes-Stone, by Thomas Gainsborough (1727-1788), both “so remarkable and technically so different”, as stressed by newspaper Expresso (Rocha, Expresso, 4 Dec 1999, p. 113).

The pieces belonging to the Gulbenkian Collection were presented differently in the MET, largely for technical reasons, such as the lighting of the New York museum. The same article in the Expresso stresses that “each piece is handled individually, allowing the most minute detail to shine” (Ibid.). The article also quotes MET director, Philippe de Montebello, who believes that the Calouste Gulbenkian Collection, assembled with a rigorous focus on quality and historical context, reflected the knowledge of its founder, who “liked beautiful things from many different fields, who liked large, exemplary pieces” (Ibid., p. 109).

The Expresso also reports that this was the first exhibition taking place abroad to feature a “significant” selection of works from the collection. At the time, this indicated, “a drive for internationalisation and proactive cultural action that seems to mark a departure from the restraint that has reigned to this point” (Ibid.).

The exhibition garnered coverage and praise in the Portuguese and international press, receiving positive reviews in influential North American newspapers.

Roberta Smith, art critic of The New York Times, expressed her enthusiasm for the exhibition and the glimpse it offered of the Calouste Gulbenkian collection: “The 80 objects in this exhibition are diverse enough that they nearly form a mini-Met. Every gallery presents a different facet of Gulbenkian's collection and his demanding sensibility; sometimes there is a change in culture, century or medium every few yards. Within 30 feet of the entrance, for example, you will move from a Roman medal bearing Alexander the Great's likeness, to a finely detailed Late Dynasty head of an old man to a Yuan porcelain stem cup to Ghirlandaio's gossamer portrait of a Florentine noblewoman in the bloom of youth, her neck encircled by coal beads.” (Smith, The New York Times, 19 Nov 1999, p. 39)

The exhibition catalogue – published by the MET in partnership with the FCG and taking its structure from the various areas of the Founder’s Collection – contains photographic reproductions of all works featured in the exhibition, accompanied by texts written by curators from the MCG, including Isabel Pereira Coutinho, Maria Rosa Figueiredo and Maria Queiroz Ribeiro and pieces by the director of the MCG, João Castel-Branco Pereira, and the director of the MET, Philippe de Montebello.

The exhibition was accompanied by a programme of cultural events, among them a concert by the Gulbenkian Choir – celebrating their 35th anniversary at the time – which took place on the eve of the inauguration of the exhibition and included pieces by renowned composers such as Diogo Dias Melgás and Ravel, conducted by Michel Corboz (The Metropolitan Museum of Art 1999-2000 Season. Concerts [leaflet], 1999). In addition to this musical event, there was also a series of lectures, including contributions from the executive director of the Luso-American Development Foundation, Rui Chancerelle de Machete, and the director of the MCG, who spoke about the figure of Calouste Sarkis Gulbenkian and his life as a collector.

Prior to the inauguration of the exhibition, the New York museum opened its doors to the media for an advance showing, attended by almost 120 journalists from Portugal, the United States of America, Spain, Brazil, Japan, France, Mexico, Germany, the United Kingdom, Poland and Armenia.

The exhibition opening was attended by the president of the FCG, Victor de Sá Machado, two members of the FCG board, Pedro Tamen and Michael Essayan, and the manager of the FCG International Department, José Blanco, in addition to other Portuguese and American figures from the worlds of culture, art and politics. To mark the opening, the Ambassador of Portugal in New York, José Carlos da Cruz Almeida, and his wife, Maria Helena, held a dinner at their home, which was documented in a photo report by Maria Guadalupe in newspaper Semanário (Guadalupe, Semanário. Olá!, Nov 1999, pp. 34-37).

On the date of its closure, the exhibition “Only the Best” received a total of 102 909 visitors.