The Gulbenkian Museum – The Greatest Museum You Have Never Heard Of

 

The Gulbenkian Museum in Lisbon, Portugal was a private collection of Calouste Gulbenkian. He was a key figure in creating the oil industry in the Middle East. As you can imagine he became fabulously wealthy. And he was an art lover. He created one of the greatest private collections in the world and in the end bequeathed it to the city of Lisbon.

Calouste had an amazingly discerning eye and eclectic art taste. As a wealthy oil merchant living in Paris in the 20s and 30s he collected from all cultures including Islamic, European and Asian. How the collection got to Lisbon and became the Gulbenkian Museum is quite a story.

Late in the decade of the 1930s it became apparent that the Germans were planning on invading France. Fearing if he stayed in France the Nazis would capture his priceless art collection, he contacted the government in Lisbon, Portugal requesting entry.  His request granted, he packed up everything he owned in Paris and moved. Apparently the Nazis were on the move toward Paris when his vast collection arrived in Lisbon. In 1942 he moved to Lisbon and lived there until his death 1955. When he passed away he bequeathed his collection to the city in appreciation for accepting him into their city. BUT that’s not yet the end of the story

When Calouste Gulbenkian passed away in 1955 he bequeathed his fabulous art collection to the city of Lisbon Portugal. But Calouste had a playboy son who he knew would break up and sell the collection to support his profligate lifestyle. What ensued was a 20-year legal battle between the son and the city. In the end Lisbon won and created the wonderful Gulbenkian Museum for us to marvel at.

Lalique – I consider Lalique to be the greatest jewelry artist of all time. (Others may dispute that but of course art is all about opinion! ?) Gulbenkian loved his work and collected it extensively. I had to shoot these photos through glass cases so they may not be the best but I hope you get the idea.

Paintings – Calouste Gulbenkian was an avid art collector of what caught his eye irrespective of culture or era. Here is some of his painting collection spanning Renaissance to Modern. I was particularly taken with his contemporary collection of drawings from the 20’s and 30’s. If you are a fan of art at all you will certainly recognize the great masters in his collection.

Ceramics – Being Armenian, Calouste Gulbenkian loved Islamic ceramics and collected them. But being who he was he collected anything he liked so included in his collection were Chinese, Rococo and Greek. The Gulbenkian Museum was amazing!

Marble Sculpture – We have all seen marble sculpture, every museum has some, much of it of a very standard Greek style. Calouste Gulbenkian collected only the most originally creative. These are some of my favorites!

Metal Sculpture – These exquisite pieces in silver and gold were a marvel.

Stone Sculpture – The collection incudes Renaissance, Chinese, Egyptian, Greek and Assyrian.

Wood Sculpture – Of course he collected carved wood but another section of the museum includes furniture!

Paper – Being from the Middle East you can imagine Gulbenkian liked textiles and works of paper. Here are a few pieces from his paper collection.

12:23 Textiles – Naturally Gulbenkian loved textiles being from the Middle East. In this section you see a photograph of the interior of his home in Paris – the floors and many of the walls covered in carpet and tapestry. But not just from the Middle East. He also collected tapestry from Europe and carpet from China. The final part of this video shows one of the most amazing pieces from the collection – a Chinese silk carpet so intricate and expressive that it has to be experienced to be believed.