“Museums are for us to enjoy. Every museum should make us feel good and not bored. To be there for one or two hours, it’s not to spend the whole day in the Louvre, because that’s boring.” These are the words of Luís Negrão, a neurologist at the University Hospital of Coimbra, but with strong family roots in Alcantarilha, in the Algarve.
That is why “Parque de Diversão” is the title of the exhibition of around 80 of the 400 works of contemporary Portuguese art that make up its collection, in a show that will open on Saturday, 28 September, at the Museum of Faro.
«In the amusement park, as in fairs, there is a lot of color. And in the exhibition too, because of the ceramic pieces from the collection that will also be shown. It is a very varied exhibition, with very different ways of painting, with very different colors and textures», described the collector, in an exclusive interview with Sul Informação.
A small part of the collection «Luís Negrão and Family», which was built over the years, until now was shown last year, in his parents' homeland, in Alcantarilha.
Em Faro, at the Municipal Museum, Luís Negrão will present «a wider set of works, which interact with each other, from different artists, phases and themes», in an exhibition curated by Hugo Dinis, a curator at Culturgest who has collaborated with the doctor in organizing his collection.
On the walls of the Museum, there will be around 80 works, by Ana Hatherly, Ana Vidigal, António Dacosta, António Palolo, António Vasconcelos Lapa, Cristina Ataíde, Cruzeiro Seixas, Isabel Madureira Andrade, João Jacinto, João Queiroz, Jorge Martins, José Loureiro, José Pedro Croft, Júlio Pomar, Júlio dos Reis Pereira, Manuel Caeiro, Marcelino Vespeira, Maria José Cavaco, Mário Cesariny, Mário-Henrique Leiria, Menez, Nikias Skapinakis, Patrícia Garrido, Pedro Calapez and Vítor Pomar.
“It is a set of pieces that encompasses almost a hundred years of Portuguese cultural life in terms of visual arts. We start with Júlio dos Reis Pereira, who is from the 1930s, and we go up to 2020”, added Luís Negrão, in his interview with our newspaper.
The exhibition will be presented in the chapel of the former Convent of Our Lady of the Assumption, where the Municipal Museum of Faro. In other words, a space that was once a place of prayer and retreat is once again opening up to contemporary art from a private collector who, in a “noble gesture”, as Marco Lopes, the Museum’s director, points out, is willing to show the works of some of the most important contemporary Portuguese artists that are part of his personal collection.
But how did Luís Negrão, a doctor who lives in Coimbra and has family roots in Alcantarilha, come to Faro?
That is, before this new exhibition, in addition to the exhibition from September last year, which opened the Alcantarilha Exhibition Center, with a small selection of paintings, Luís Negrão recently showed there part of his collection of 30 photographs by Eduardo Gageiro.
In fact, it was on the day he returned to Alcantarilha to dismantle this exhibition that Sul Informação there he went, to interview him. And one of the first things we wanted to know was the reason for now exhibiting in Faro.
The explanation is simple: «Silves really doesn’t have any space for an exhibition with almost 80 works».
Therefore, Luís Negrão remembered the Municipal Museum of Faro. «I made contact through the former councilor for culture in Faro, the engineer Augusto Miranda, who introduced me to Marco Lopes, the director of the Museum. He was very pleasant, very friendly, very approachable. And we talked. I showed him what had already been done, the artists who are part of the collection». And so this exhibition was born.
The “Amusement Park” exhibition opens at 17pm on Saturday 28th September and will be on display until 29th December. The opening includes the launch of the catalogue, which the collector considers to be “very important in an exhibition”.
As he pointed out, “very good exhibitions have already been held in the Algarve, but if there is no catalogue, there is nothing left” when they are dismantled.
Although I am very happy with the organization of this exhibition in Faro, Luís Negrão's dream is to create «a Contemporary Art Center in Silves».
But let's go back to the family roots of the renowned neurologist at the University Hospital of Coimbra: "My parents are from Alcantarilha and my parents' ancestors are from Alcantarilha. My sisters were born in Alcantarilha and my childhood, adolescence and until I started my professional life were spent in Alcantarilha, mainly during the summer, during the holidays", he recalled, in his interview with Sul Informação.
«My parents, from the time I was one year old, started living in Coimbra and we would come to the Algarve during the holidays. For a very specific reason, because my parents inherited some land and they had to come down here, harvest and then sell the produce of the land, the figs, the almonds, the carobs».
«And that was the main reason for us to come here. That was around 1960, 61, when tourism in the Algarve was just beginning. Then came the big tree tourist, especially in Albufeira, and, for me, it combined business with pleasure: I would come with my parents to this extra professional activity, but I would also go to the beach».
Because of these “good memories from childhood and adolescence”, and despite the fact that his entire professional life has been spent outside the region, Luís Negrão is keen to emphasise that he maintains “a very affectionate, very sentimental connection with the Algarve”.
At that time, he recalled, “Alcantarilha was a very dynamic town, it was an important agricultural centre, before the emergence of tourism, which transferred much of the movement to Armação de Pêra. The GNR, the Health Centre at the time, the Post Office, everything disappeared from here. All of this took the movement away from Alcantarilha, which entered a phase of great recession”, he lamented.
“Many years have passed, and now we are trying to see if we can revive Alcantarilha. I make a very small contribution, but the people here have another responsibility. It won’t be easy, but we need to give it a daily, community life, a great life, with some activity,” he argued.
One of these attempts to «reintroduce another dynamic, which is the cultural dynamic» has been attempted «by the activity and work» developed by ALDEPA, the Association for the Defense of the Cultural and Natural Heritage of Alcantarilha, of which Luís Negrão is a member.
The two exhibitions of paintings and photographs from his collection that he has already held at the Alcantarilha Exhibition Centre are, in his opinion, an example of ALDEPA's dynamism.
As for the Exhibition Centre, “it is a wonderful space, but it is a bit small. But it doesn’t need to be bigger for the town”, admitted Luís Negrão.
Despite the smallness of the space, the doctor revealed to Sul Informação who is already planning, «for next year, a series of exhibitions with the Silves City Council, here, with ceramics from my collection, by António Vasconcelos Lapa, and then also paintings».
These exhibitions could even be extended to other spaces in the city of Silves, such as foyer from the Mascarenhas Gregorio Theater.
The collector assured that, from the conversations he has had with those responsible for the municipality, there is interest in “investing in this new aspect, this new cultural dynamic”, which involves contemporary art.
«In the field of contemporary art, in Silves, there have been some sporadic things. And the idea now is to do something sustained and that will be a point of reference», in the region and even in the country.
Ultimately, he added, the project involves creating a “Contemporary Art Center in Silves, because there is no structure of this nature in the Algarve.”
“The idea is to create something permanent that has to have an obvious connection with local and native authors and artists from the municipality, which will naturally include temporary exhibitions by local authors and guest authors. But there has to be a central core, a center,” he explained.
This “center”, this “base”, “would be my collection, which is known for its quality”, added Luís Negrão. “But the center would be open to all other contributions”, especially because Silves was the birthplace of “several names in contemporary art, such as Maria Keil, Fernando Conduto, Rocha de Sousa, Mário Rita”.
Luís Negrão considered that «the Algarve has been enriched, lately, by the rediscovery of its historical and architectural heritage, often enhanced by high-quality museums, such as the one in Vila do Bispo, Faro, Portimao».
But, in his opinion, “what is also missing in a region like the Algarve, which has a strong focus on tourism, is a similar wave to that which occurs in other Mediterranean countries, where contemporary art is very present. And that would be another source of attraction for foreigners, for tourists who come here.”
“That’s the project we started working on, let’s see if we can bring it to fruition,” he exclaimed, full of enthusiasm.
To what Sul Informação found out, there may already be a location in downtown Silves that would be suitable for the dreamed-of Contemporary Art Center. But a lot of water will still have to pass under the bridges of the Arade River before the idea can even become a project.
In the meantime, anyone interested in contemporary Portuguese art and who wants to discover this private collection can visit the Museum of Faro, the «Amusement Park».
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