New figures
The Berardo collection includes numerous 20th century paintings, representing styles from the Realism of the 1930s to the return of Expressionism, from the 1980s onwards.
Francis Bacon, Balthus, Eric Fischl, Pierre Klossowski and Paula Rego, through their use of materials and individual figurative styles, have managed, in different degrees, to eliminate the mere illustrative or narrative elements from their figuration.
In the work of Balthus, rigid figures and austere settings are shown in stark contrast to the sensual attitude assumed by the models. This same attitude of human uncertainty relatively to the subject is depicted in the pastel colour drawings of his brother Pierre Klossowski.
Paying homage to Italian primitive painters, he seeks to achieve the appearance of early frescoes, by using colour pencils.
In the works of Eric Fisch, models display their provoking nudity. In his Oedipus and the Sphinx after Ingres (1983), Francis Bacon was inspired by the work of Ingres, who developed three different versions on this theme. Oedipus appears as a wounded athlete, presenting his foot to the Sphinx as an offering. Far away, behind the path bordered by monochrome pink panels, the bloodthirsty Fury announces the inexorable fate. Paula Rego brings narrative back into her figuration. She uses stories, legends and tales, albeit without falling into the temptation of illustrating them.
Minimalisms
Minimalism (or minimal art) emerged at the beginning of the 1960s in the United States.
The notion of minimal art first appeared in the end of 1965.
In painting, as a reaction to Pop Art, minimalist works generally include only a few basic colours and shapes, as may be seen in the work of Morris Louis and Frank Stella. The main characteristic of minimalism is simplicity, without subjective representations. Minimalist artists work with simple, elementary structures, achieved through the use of plain materials, often untreated (iron polished copper, steel); shapes are kept to their bare essence, composed of elemental forms behind which they dissolve. Pavements made of stones (Carl Andre), cubic boxes placed on the ground (Donald Judd) and linear compositions made of neon tubes (Dan Flavin) are typical examples of minimalist works. The colours and individual materials allow for the creation of objects with no emotional history, sculptures whose contents are merely the sculptures themselves; minimal representation limited to its essence.
Minimalism has had a profound influence on contemporary art. Embodying the dominant American trend of the end of the 1960s, minimalism elicited several reactions. In fact, since its emergence, the Italian movement Arte Povera, a term used for the first time in September of 1967 – referring to "poverty" in art as a necessary precariousness – directly opposed its purposefully cold and neutral sophistication.
Giovanni Anselmo, Jannis Kounellis and Mario Merz illustrate this rebellious utopia of the end of the 1960s. The French artist Daniel Buren started using his "visual tool" in 1965, alternating black and coloured 8.7 cm wide vertical bands. The choice of an industrial, manufactured product satisfied his need for objectivity, allowing him to emphasise the impersonal character of his work. In Portugal, minimalism was represented, among others, by Fernando Calhau and Pedro Cabrita Reis known for his pieces relating to architecture, constructed from recovered materials and neon lights.
The power of colour
The history of art in the 20th century is undoubtedly marked by the monochrome, i.e. single colour, experience. From the abstract icons of Kasimir Malevich to the architectural experiences of Lucio Fontana, coloured abstractions became a fundamental hallmark of modernism, even if art historians do not cease to recall earlier monochromatic experiences (the Incoherent Arts, or Claude Monet). Yves Klein took it a step further by displacing the focal point of paintings to their surroundings, creating the ‘White Cube’ concept, a distinctive feature of art from the 1960-1970s. Above all, minimalism was a limitation of colour overspill. The Berardo collection represents a journey through these multiple trends, with special emphasis on the Sabro, by Franz Kline and IKB 103, by Yves Klein. The development of the IKB (International Klein Blue), for which Klein registered the patent (the ultramarine blue pigment is mixed with a special resin that allows the preservation of its original intensity), enabled this artist to reach an essential stage. Piero Manzoni, with his Achrome series, begun in 1957, attempted to go even further: white is the absence of colour defined by the title of these works. Upon attentive observation, the work of Ad Reinhardt reveals a geometrical image composed by a series of squares with different intensities of black.
In Portugal, Ângelo de Sousa started working on the depth of colours in the 1950s. Also worth mentioning are recent works by Luís Noronha da Costa, whose recent symbolic work Piero della Francesca depois de Fontana continues to focus, with a fascinating economy of means, on multiple plans and screens. Pedro Cabrita Reis revisits colour in his Cabinet d’amateur #2, a piece composed of recovered materials and layers of paint.
Finally, Branca de Neve, a film by João César Monteiro (1939 - 2003) will be exhibited by occasion of the Museum opening. This film shot in 2000 is considered controversial: Snow White is a back and black movie, based on texts by Robert Walser, consisting of 75 minutes of black screen and few discernible images...
