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The Gulbenkian Fine Arts Museum: the best least known museum in Europe.
The Gulbenkian Museum in Lisbon, Portugal, is a fine art museum I had never heard of until I discovered it while visiting this city; I now want to sing its praises. I knew the Prado, the Louvre, and most of the other “big guns” of the EU, but I never had heard of this museum with the funny name. I read an article about the museum which described it just this way: An underrated fine art museum that can claim its place among the best in Europe, if only we knew of it!
What is unique about the Gulbenkian is its curation of small but superb representative samples of painting, sculpture, decorative art, furnishings, fashion and jewelry spanning a broad range of eras and cultures. Each piece is of exquisite quality and in excellent condition. The Gulbenkian is not a museum that strives to corner the market in any particular genre, era or medium. It can’t claim to be the mecca of Impressionist watercolors, Dutch oils, or renaissance sculpture; those meccas that can overwhelm our senses and fatigue our appreciation for its treasures as we march, room after room, in a blur of excessive excellence.
The founding patron of this museum, Mr Gulbenkian, selected for best quality representational pieces, not quantity for its own sake. Items are presented in defined but open rooms, organized by a particular era or culture, or based on the media. For example, there is a large room populated with gorgeous, and not headless, sculptures, including a surprising number by Rodin. Mr G. built his collection patiently over his life this, made possible by his tremendous financial success in his new home, Portugal, where he came as a refugee from Armenia. He built in the center of Lisbon a beautiful museum in a modern architectural style, perfectly suited for his collection. Surrounding it all is a beautiful park. Mr. G wanted to give back to his adopted home, and his fine art…
