The exhibition “Portreto de la Animo”, with around 150 works by 99 artists, is open to the public until 12 November and includes several pieces from the collection of the Soares dos Reis National Museum.
“Portreto de la Animo” presents an exhibition of works from the Treger Saint Silvestre collection, one of the most important and extensive private collections of Art Brut in the world.
The works focused on portrait and self-portrait are placed in confrontation or exhibition dialogue with other pieces belonging to the Soares dos Reis National Museum collection: Set of Miniatures; Bust-Reliquary of São Pantaleão; Mother and Daughter by Sarah Afonso; terracotta sculpture by Hein Semke; Mortuary Mask of Soares dos Reis by José Joaquim Teixeira Lopes; Escarrador by Rafael Bordallo Pinheiro; and Portrait of Augusto Santo by Rudolf Joham Weisse.
Around 150 works have been selected for this exhibition, which are related to processes of self-representation and were mostly produced in contexts of illness. The Soares dos Reis National Museum is thus bringing together these works of art, inscribed in currents that go beyond the traditional, with others from its own collection.
In the context of this exhibition, the Soares dos Reis National Museum intends, through its artistic collections and the Treger Saint Silvestre Collection, to develop a programme that encourages discussion and approaches to mental health through art and artists.
The aim is to provide contemplation, empathy and strengthen the emotional bond between the public and the compositions on display. The aim is to create an experience of enjoyment, but essentially to raise awareness of the person’s inner world and its expressions.
The exhibition “Portreto de la Animo”, according to curator António Saint Silvestre considered “the largest exhibition of Fine Art ever held on the Iberian Peninsula”, is being promoted in partnership with São João da Madeira City Council, the Oliva Art Centre and collectors António Saint Silvestre and Richard Treger, with the patronage support of the Millennium bcp Foundation and Lusitânia Seguros and the institutional support of the Círculo Dr José de Figueiredo – Association of Friends of the Soares dos Reis National Museum.