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That morning, she was the most flamboyantly appreciative of the visitors to Lisbon's Berardo Gallery of Modern and Contemporary Art.
Quite apart from the Warhol, I had come to see paintings by Mondrian, Picasso and Miro, sculpture by Bruce Nauman and works by Cindy Sherman and Helena Almeida. This remarkable collection belongs to the Madeiran businessman Jose Berardo – the Charles Saatchi of Portugal – who announced 10 years ago that he wanted to open his extensive range of artworks to the public.
Although some of Berardo's collection has been on show in the town of Sintra, about 17 miles from Lisbon, it wasn't until the end of June last year that the Portuguese government made a suitable home available for the greater part of his trove of modern art. A total of 862 works are now kept at a big refurbished gallery that until recently contained the Design Museum, which has relocated to the Verride Palace in Santa Catarina Square and is due to open in 2009.
The gallery is part of the Belem Cultural Centre and will exhibit about 20 per cent of Berardo's collection at any one time. It opened last July and, with crowds still flocking here, its enduring success looks assured. Berardo is determined that entry should remain free, and he wants the gallery to retain a lively, unstuffy atmosphere. Special services (again free, although you do need to book) include guided tours in English and the opportunity to spend "15 minutes with a work of art", during which an assistant will talk you through a chosen piece.
Meanwhile, children are very welcome and well-devised kits are available with imaginative worksheets on which they can draw and colour and from which they hunt out specified features. Watching the eagerness of a gaggle of small visitors, I wanted to have a go myself.
The striking pink building that houses the museum was constructed to host Portugal's presidency of the European Union in 1992 and is set in one of the most historically important parts of Lisbon. The suburb of Belem, about a 15-minute tram ride from the heart of the capital, was the departure point for the 15th- and 16th-century explorers during Portugal's golden age and it contains some of the country's finest architecture.
Modern and ancient: it is a weird sensation to stand at the terrace garden by the entrance of the new Berardo gallery and look across the road, and back five centuries, to Mosteiro dos Jeronimos. Begun in 1503, the great monastic complex is the best example of Portugal's Manueline style, along with the Torre de Belem, a fortress nearby on the Tagus riverfront.
A far cry from the clean lines of the Berardo gallery, this ornate form of architecture was named after King Manuel I who reigned from 1469 to 1521. Seafaring motifs are featured (ropes, anchors and more) and the great Age of Discovery is reflected with botanical carvings and elements such as filigree work newly introduced from the East.
Step inside the monastery's church and you are wowed by the triumphal sense of space and the detail of the embellishments. Six soaring columns support a miraculously high vaulted ceiling, each column fabulously carved with intertwining ropes and plants. Just inside the main entrance are the stone tombs of the poet and writer Luis de Camoes, who recorded the great voyages, and the explorer Vasco da Gama, who died in Cochin on his third voyage to the East.
Camoes and da Gama, along with other great figures from the Age of Discovery, are celebrated in a large sculpture that stands on the river's edge across a manicured park from the monastery. The striking Monument to the Discoveries has become a much-loved symbol of Lisbon. This ship-shaped slab of concrete reaching a height of 165ft was constructed in 1960 to commemorate the 500th anniversary of the death of Henry the Navigator, the prince who organised and funded Portugal's earliest expeditions. His statue stands on the prow, close to those of da Gama and Camoes.
It was in July 1497 that da Gama famously set out on his first voyage to India. Two years later, he returned laden with a cargo of pepper from the Malabar coast of Kerala. They were riches beyond measure. Today in Belem, modern art is the new pepper. This leafy part of Lisbon already had a number of small museums – the Archaeology Museum and the very popular Coach Museum among them. But with the Berardo Collection another cargo of staggering global value has arrived.
How to get there
EasyJet flies to Lisbon (0871 244 2366; easyjet.com) from £108 return. The Berardo Modern and Contemporary Art Collection (00 351 21 361 2878; museuberardo.pt) is open daily from 10am to 7pm, Fridays until 10pm. Mosteiro dos Jeronimos (mosteirojeronimos.pt) and the Monument to the Discoveries' viewing platform are open daily, 10am-5pm, except Monday.
Further information
Lisbon tourist information (visitlisboa.com).
Quite apart from the Warhol, I had come to see paintings by Mondrian, Picasso and Miro, sculpture by Bruce Nauman and works by Cindy Sherman and Helena Almeida. This remarkable collection belongs to the Madeiran businessman Jose Berardo – the Charles Saatchi of Portugal – who announced 10 years ago that he wanted to open his extensive range of artworks to the public.
Although some of Berardo's collection has been on show in the town of Sintra, about 17 miles from Lisbon, it wasn't until the end of June last year that the Portuguese government made a suitable home available for the greater part of his trove of modern art. A total of 862 works are now kept at a big refurbished gallery that until recently contained the Design Museum, which has relocated to the Verride Palace in Santa Catarina Square and is due to open in 2009.
The gallery is part of the Belem Cultural Centre and will exhibit about 20 per cent of Berardo's collection at any one time. It opened last July and, with crowds still flocking here, its enduring success looks assured. Berardo is determined that entry should remain free, and he wants the gallery to retain a lively, unstuffy atmosphere. Special services (again free, although you do need to book) include guided tours in English and the opportunity to spend "15 minutes with a work of art", during which an assistant will talk you through a chosen piece.
Meanwhile, children are very welcome and well-devised kits are available with imaginative worksheets on which they can draw and colour and from which they hunt out specified features. Watching the eagerness of a gaggle of small visitors, I wanted to have a go myself.
The striking pink building that houses the museum was constructed to host Portugal's presidency of the European Union in 1992 and is set in one of the most historically important parts of Lisbon. The suburb of Belem, about a 15-minute tram ride from the heart of the capital, was the departure point for the 15th- and 16th-century explorers during Portugal's golden age and it contains some of the country's finest architecture.
Modern and ancient: it is a weird sensation to stand at the terrace garden by the entrance of the new Berardo gallery and look across the road, and back five centuries, to Mosteiro dos Jeronimos. Begun in 1503, the great monastic complex is the best example of Portugal's Manueline style, along with the Torre de Belem, a fortress nearby on the Tagus riverfront.
A far cry from the clean lines of the Berardo gallery, this ornate form of architecture was named after King Manuel I who reigned from 1469 to 1521. Seafaring motifs are featured (ropes, anchors and more) and the great Age of Discovery is reflected with botanical carvings and elements such as filigree work newly introduced from the East.
Step inside the monastery's church and you are wowed by the triumphal sense of space and the detail of the embellishments. Six soaring columns support a miraculously high vaulted ceiling, each column fabulously carved with intertwining ropes and plants. Just inside the main entrance are the stone tombs of the poet and writer Luis de Camoes, who recorded the great voyages, and the explorer Vasco da Gama, who died in Cochin on his third voyage to the East.
Camoes and da Gama, along with other great figures from the Age of Discovery, are celebrated in a large sculpture that stands on the river's edge across a manicured park from the monastery. The striking Monument to the Discoveries has become a much-loved symbol of Lisbon. This ship-shaped slab of concrete reaching a height of 165ft was constructed in 1960 to commemorate the 500th anniversary of the death of Henry the Navigator, the prince who organised and funded Portugal's earliest expeditions. His statue stands on the prow, close to those of da Gama and Camoes.
It was in July 1497 that da Gama famously set out on his first voyage to India. Two years later, he returned laden with a cargo of pepper from the Malabar coast of Kerala. They were riches beyond measure. Today in Belem, modern art is the new pepper. This leafy part of Lisbon already had a number of small museums – the Archaeology Museum and the very popular Coach Museum among them. But with the Berardo Collection another cargo of staggering global value has arrived.
How to get there
EasyJet flies to Lisbon (0871 244 2366; easyjet.com) from £108 return. The Berardo Modern and Contemporary Art Collection (00 351 21 361 2878; museuberardo.pt) is open daily from 10am to 7pm, Fridays until 10pm. Mosteiro dos Jeronimos (mosteirojeronimos.pt) and the Monument to the Discoveries' viewing platform are open daily, 10am-5pm, except Monday.
Further information
Lisbon tourist information (visitlisboa.com).
