From 29th December to 30th March, Porto City Hall presented the exhibition, D. Pedro, the Independence of Brazil and Porto, thus closing the bicentennial of Brazil’s Independence.

The exhibition displayed items of major historical value from the Soares dos Reis National Museum collection linked to the triumph of the liberal cause in the city. These included the uniform of a colonel in Hunter Battalion No. 5 worn by D. Pedro during the Siege of Porto, and a satirical engraving by the French painter, Nicolas Eustache Maurin. The engraving is formed by two lithographs coupled and pasted in vertical bands that create two images: on one side, the portrait of absolutist D. Miguel and, on the other, the head of a donkey.

The Minister of Culture, Pedro Adão e Silva, visited the Soares dos Reis National Museum and had the opportunity to get to know the museum’s new long-term exhibition project. The Minister also visited the temporary exhibition, Life and Secret. Aurélia de Souza 1866-1922. The exhibition featured one of the most remarkable women in Portuguese art, whose life spanned the 19th and 20th centuries. It was part of a commemorative programme marking the first centenary of Aurélia de Souza’s death, aiming to make her life and, above all, her work more widely known.

On 28th November, the Soares dos Reis National Museum began a programme of activities at the North Maternal and Child Centre. Part of the Art and Health project run with the University Hospital Centre of Porto, it grew out of the temporary exhibition, Life and Secret. Aurélia de Souza 1866-1922. Designed for children and young users of CMIN, activities included reproducing images and self-portraits, creating a diary, modelling masks and writing narratives and letters.

The Self-Portrait of Abel Salazar, owned by the Friends of the Soares dos Reis National Museum – Círculo Dr José de Figueiredo, opened the All Abel Salazar, on show at the Casa Comum in the University of Porto Rectory from 14th November until 17th February. The exhibition featured several objects from the scientist, doctor and artist’s daily life, including the first presentation of his book, Testamento de um Morto Vivo Sepulto na Casa dos Mortos, em Barcelos.

The MNSR collection is present in the António Carneiro exhibition. The poet with brushes, promoted by the Matosinhos City Council at Quinta de Santiago. It is a self-portrait painted by the artist in 1918 and the oil painting Menina do Gato. The exhibition opens on October 29th and runs until February 26th. This exhibition takes place in the year that celebrates the 150th anniversary of the birth of António Carneiro (1872-1930) and is the largest retrospective exhibition of the poet and painter of the last 50 years in Portugal.

The Soares dos Reis National Museum welcomed a committee of patrons from the Metropolitan Museum of Art (MET), New York. The visit was in line with the new strategic positioning of the Museum’s internationalisation, defined by the current Board in order to establish new partnerships and enhance the Museum’s external action.

The delegation, led by Maxwell K. Hearn, Director of the MET’s Department of Oriental Art, was introduced to the Soares dos Reis National Museum’s history and collections. The delegation also had the opportunity to learn about the process and concept of the Museum’s long-term exhibition. Maxwell K. Hearn acknowledged that the Soares dos Reis National Museum’s museological and museographic programme is in line both with the MET’s current work and with international trends.

The Soares dos Reis National Museum was chosen as the stage for the latest edition of Portugal Fashion, which holds fashion shows in emblematic spaces around Porto. The collections of Diogo Miranda, Huarte and Alves/Gonçalves were shown in the Camellia Garden, the Picadeiro and the Rainha Dona Amélia Garden, with the lapidary collection serving as a backdrop for the new creations. The shows took place on 15th October, the last day of the event, and were part of a wider programme with presentations, new talents, showrooms and competitions.

The Minister of Foreign Affairs visits the exhibition Ferdinand Magellan. The Minister of Foreign Affairs, João Gomes Cravinho, visited the exhibition Ferdinand Magellan. Across the Worldwide Seas, which documented the circumnavigation (1519 to 1522), initially planned and commanded by Ferdinand Magellan and completed by Sebastian Elcano. Realised in partnership with the Mission Structure of the 5th Centenary of the First Circumnavigation, the exhibition focused on the history of a discovery – the discovery of the blue planet and the Pacific Ocean – and included a section dedicated to the biography of Ferdinand Magellan and his experiences in the service of the Portuguese Empire, and another on how the world remembers Magellan today.

In the early evening of 8th July, the Soares dos Reis National Museum hosted the first initiative of the programme, Meetings with Pedro IV, promoted by Porto Liberal. This was a staging of the Siege of Porto, performed by members of the Association of Recreators and Collectors of Portuguese Historical Arms.

And We Arrived in Porto. Disembarking Memories staged events during the Civil War between Liberals and Absolutists from July 1832 onwards, which gave rise to the Siege of Porto. The performance symbolically took place 200 years after the landing of King Pedro IV on Pampelido beach. The monarch then settled in Carrancas Palace, currently the Soares dos Reis National Museum, elevating it to the Porto Royal Palace.

In a partnership with the Porto School of Hospitality and Tourism, the event also featured the launching of the new cocktail and biscuit, Porto Liberal, designed by students from the school to mark this historic date and the presence of D. Pedro in Porto.

The works from the MNSR painting collection O SONHO (1895) and ESTUDO PARA PSYCHÉ (c. 1891), by Veloso Salgado, are part of the exhibition “Veloso Salgado de Lisboa a Wissant. Itinerary of a Portuguese painter”, on display at the Musée de Boulogne-sur-mer from 2 July to 4 December. Organized with the collaboration of the Museu Nacional de Arte Contemporânea do Chiado and with the support of the Ministry of Culture and the French Institute, the exhibition is part of the Temporada Cruzada Portugal-França initiative.

The selection of works reflects the Portuguese-French artistic exchange of the 19th century, resulting from the state scholarship awarded to Portuguese painters to continue studying at the Ecole des Beaux-arts, in Paris. Veloso Salgado not only frequented the effervescent studios of Parisian artists, but also drew inspiration from extended stays in the Brittany region and in Wissant, on the coast of Pas-de Calais.

On his return to Portugal and the landscape of Colares, Veloso Salgado paints O SONHO and recovers the theme of the woods and female figures similar to Musas. The painting entered the MNSR collection in 1951, as a legacy from Adelina de Oliveira Nogueira Pinto.

Portugal was the guest country at the 2022 edition of the Fontainebleau Art History Festival. The programme, aimed at historians, students and visitors to cultural institutions, included a conference on Portuguese museums, featuring the Soares dos Reis National Museum and the Gulbenkian Museum. This took place on 3rd June, immediately after the inaugural conference with the artist, Pedro Cabrita-Reis and the architect, Eduardo Souto de Moura.

Organized by the French Ministry of Culture, through INHA – Institut national d’histoire de l’art and the Château de Fontainebleau, the festival is divided into sections with film screenings, exhibitions and installations, as well as an art book and magazine fair.

More information on the festival is available at https://www.festivaldelhistoiredelart.fr/

The Portuguese Museology Association awarded the career prize to Fátima Macedo, museologist, and goldsmithery and jewellery collection manager at the Soares dos Reis National Museum. Fátima Macedo’s work, carried out over several years, received official recognition at the Portuguese Museology Association 2022 Awards ceremony.

An outstanding example of Macedo’s work was her research into the bust-reliquary of St Pantaleon, classified as a national treasure and part of the Soares dos Reis National Museum collection.

The University Hospital Centre of Porto and the Soares dos Reis National Museum launched the collaborative project, Art and Health, with events in different areas around Santo António Hospital, involving its patients and their companions.

Focused on art’s capacity to minimize the impact of disease and contribute to the construction of a favourable environment, the project consolidates the partnership between the two neighbouring institutions and brings together University Hospital Centre of Porto professionals, its patients and their Museum companions, looking to solidify its exterior presence.

One of these events was the exhibition, Other Places, which took a set of photographs highlighting details of paintings and sculptures by artists such as António Soares dos Reis, Artur Loureiro, Aurélia de Souza, Henrique Pousão, José Malhoa, Marques de Oliveira and Silva Porto into different areas of the University Hospital Centre of Porto. The aim was for these images to enhance the space’s human feel and illustrate details of works conveying feelings of relaxation and well-being.

This partnership also led to the creation of a special discount ticket for University Hospital Centre of Porto patients and companions, with 50% off the admission price to the Soares dos Reis National Museum. Further results were the programming of activities for University Hospital Centre of Porto professionals, providing moments of leisure and relaxation that were stimulating and differentiated from their daily routine; as well as educational activities for patients in the paediatric service, continuing the aim of humanisation and education through art.

The project is sponsored by the Manuel António da Mota Foundation and has the institutional support of Círculo Dr. José de Figueiredo – Friends of Soares dos Reis National Museum.

26th May 2022 marked 100 years since the death of Aurélia de Souza, one of the most remarkable women in the country’s, and especially the North’s, artistic life during the transition from the 19th to the 20th century.

The Soares dos Reis National Museum, the University of Porto, the Catholic University, the Institute of Art History of the Faculty of Social and Human Sciences of the New University of Lisbon, the Municipality of Porto and the Municipality of Matosinhos came together to commemorate the event, which was divided into multiple cultural activities between April 2022 and June 2023. The importance and prestige of Aurélia de Souza in the Portuguese and international cultural scene fully justified the combined celebration of this extraordinary artist, who was always at the forefront of her time.

Each institution presented its detailed cultural programme, but all the initiatives took place under the joint seal – highlighted above -, purposely created by Atelier R2 to mark the centenary of the death of the Porto painter and photographer.

The Director of Soares dos Reis National Museum, António Ponte, and the Museum team welcomed about 30 students from the University of Porto (U.Porto) who participated in the inaugural class of the new course, “Culture, Art and Heritage: the museum as a place of fruition”. Resulting from a partnership between U.Porto and various city institutions, the initiative will, for one semester, allow behind the scenes access to Porto’s artistic and cultural activity and encourage the acquisition of transversal skills regarding how a Museum functions.

Undergraduate and Master’s students from different areas, such as Management, Law, Veterinary Medicine and the Fine Arts will be in direct contact with the Soares dos Reis National Museum team and be able to acquire knowledge about museology, collection management, conservation and restoration, as well as image and visual culture.

In the centenary year of Aurélia de Souza’s death, the Institute of Art History of the Faculty of Social and Human Sciences at the New University of Lisbon, the Soares dos Reis National Museum and the Portuguese Catholic University are comprehensively cataloguing the artist’s work to be published as an ebook and in print.

Begun in 2020 and led by Professor Raquel Henriques da Silva, the project also has partnerships with Matosinhos Town Hall and Porto City Hall. A systematic inventory is being prepared, including the photographic record of all Aurélia de Souza’s work in public and private collections.

The survey already covers more than 300 works and is sponsored by the Millennium BCP Foundation. Institutional support is provided by the Círculo Dr. José de Figueiredo – Friends of the Soares dos Reis National Museum.

As part of the Paris sessions dedicated to medieval enamels, and co-organised by the Institut national d’histoire de l’art and the Louvre Museum, the Soares dos Reis National Museum presented a study on medieval artistic enamels from Limoges in Portugal. Ana Paula Machado, collection manager of the Soares dos Reis National Museum, shared studies with different international researchers on how these pieces were traded, preserved and became part of private collections scattered all over the country. Important examples of Limoges enamels were already part of late 19th and early 20th century museum collections.

The President of the Republic, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, visited the exhibition, Drawings of European Masters, made up of around 100 drawings produced by renowned Italian and Portuguese masters. Curated by Nicholas Turner, one of the most prestigious international experts in the drawing field, the exhibition displayed works classified as National Treasures and included the only example of Leonardo da Vinci in the country, belonging to the collection of the Museum of the Faculty of Fine Arts of the University of Porto; as well as studies and preparatory and visionary sketches by António Domingos Sequeira, mostly from the Soares dos Reis National Museum collection.

During the visit, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa highlighted the Museum’s importance in the cultural agenda of both the city and country.

The Soares dos Reis National Museum appeared in the first edition of ZEUS Magazine, launched to communicate and disseminate information about Iberian museological institutions. In the first issue, the Director of the National Museum, António Ponte, discussed his early months at the head of the institution and presented ongoing initiatives, namely with partner institutions such as the University of Porto and the University Hospital Centre of Porto. He also stressed the importance of the Museum’s presence in digital channels.

The Soares dos Reis National Museum’s itinerant exhibition, Blue and Gold. Enamels in Portugal from Medieval to Modern Times opened at the Machado de Castro National Museum, in Coimbra, on 19th November. Dedicated to artistic enamel work, the exhibition brought pieces produced between the 12th and 19th centuries together, and compared the various techniques used in liturgical, devotional and ceremonial objects. The 26 plaques from the Monastery of Santa Cruz, in Coimbra, had a particularly important role, expressing true complicity between materials, techniques and a plasticity deriving from the creative force of the 16th century.

Patent until February 27, 2022, from Tuesday to Sunday, from 10:00 to 17:30.

With the support of the Friends of the Soares dos Reis National Museum – Círculo Dr. José de Figueiredo, it was resumed a campaign of preventive conservation and restoration of the long term exhibition pieces. The first phase of the campaign focused mainly on the painting collection.

The Portuguese Museology Association distinguished Maria João Vasconcelos, Director of Soares dos Reis National Museum between 2006 and 2020, as “Personality of the Year”. The distinction, announced during the 2021 edition of the Portuguese Museology Association Awards, was the result of her contribution to Portuguese museology, reflecting the work she carried out as Museum Director, a position she held until she retired.

On 16th July, the Director of Soares dos Reis National Museum welcomed the Museum’s neighbours. Representatives of commercial spaces and services located in Rua D. Manuel II, Rua do Rosário, Rua Miguel Bombarda and Rua Adolfo Casais Monteiro got to know the programme of the current board, which took office in April. With a view to reinforcing the city’s cultural agenda, they were invited to propose possible partnerships.

The Minister of Culture, Graça Fonseca, visited Soares dos Reis National Museum temporary exhibitions, inaugurated at the museum’s reopening on 15th May. Accompanied by the Museum Director, António Ponte, she got to know all the ongoing programming in detail.

The MNSR reorganised its long-term exhibition with the support of the National Arts Plan (PNA) in defining strategies, exhibition concepts and communication models. The aim was to be in line with the new dissemination policies in cultural democracy practices.

At the same time, the Soares dos Reis National Museum team worked with students from various educational areas of the University of Porto to see how museums of this type were perceived by younger generations and how they could be of greater interest to them.

On International Women’s Day, the Porto and Northern Portugal Tourist Board (ERTPN) presented a tour of localities, monuments, museums and heritage linked to major female figures. Sophia de Mello Breyner and Aurélia de Souza were just two examples, with the Soares dos Reis National Museum being mentioned due to the painter’s work. The tour included, for example, a visit to the Botanical Gardens, where the Mello Breyner family home is located, as well as the Soares dos Reis National Museum, where the famous self-portrait of Aurélia is housed, as mentioned by the ERTPN in its presentation.