British Art – An Encounter

Presentation

The British Art Collection at CAM – Gulbenkian Foundation’s Modern Art Centre – aims to demonstrate the impact and influence of artists from various regions on the evolution and transformation of art within the United Kingdom throughout the 20th century.

It brings together two very significant groups of British artworks from the CAM Collection and the Berardo Collection to show how artistic creation in the second half of the 20th century can be seen as a dynamic movement, dialogue and process.

British Art – Convergence presents over one hundred works by 74 artists of the greatest importance, including: Bridget Riley, David Hockney, Antony Gormley, Francis Bacon, Rachel Whiteread, Frank Auerbach and David Bomberg. The idea of dialogue and exchange gives special importance to the presence of a remarkable group of Portuguese artists – Paula Rego, Bartolomeu Cid dos Santos, Menez, Eduardo Batarda, Fernando Calhau, Graça Pereira Coutinho, João Penalva and Rui Sanches – who trained and, in some cases, took up residence in London. They help us understand the importance of the British experience as a factor not only in internationalisation and cosmopolitanism, but also in mutual emancipation.

The Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation is proud to continue to pursue this goal in opening up horizons and making cultural cooperation a decisive factor in human development, true to its statutory objectives centred on education, art, science and philanthropy. And this understanding is a way of making art a catalyst for progress, mutual respect and human dignity.

Guilherme d’Oliveira Martins
Executive Trustee, Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation