The permanent exhibition galleries are distributed in chronological and geographical order to create two independent circuits within the overall tour.

The first circuit highlights Greco-Roman art from classical antiquity and art from the ancient Near East including Egyptian, Mesopotamian, Persian and Armenian art as well as Persian art from the Islamic period.

The second circuit covers European art with sections dedicated to the art of the book, sculpture, painting and the decorative arts, particularly 18th century French art and the work of René Lalique. In this circuit, a wide-ranging number of pieces reflect various European artistic trends from the beginning of the 11th century to the mid-20th century.

The section begins with work in ivory and illuminated manuscript books, followed by a selection of 15th, 16th and 17th century sculptures and paintings.

Renaissance art produced in the Netherlands, Flanders, France and Italy is on display in the next room. French 18th century decorative arts have a special place in the museum with outstanding gold and silver objects and furniture, as well as paintings and sculptures. These decorative arts are followed by galleries exhibiting a large group of paintings by the Venetian Francesco Guardi, 18th and 19th century English paintings, and finally a superb collection of jewels and glass by René Lalique, displayed in its own room.

Gulbenkian’s motto was “only the best”, and hence the museum has masterpieces by western European artists such as Domenico Ghirlandaio, Rubens, Rembrandt, Rodin,Carpeaux, Houdon, Renoir, Dierick Bouts, Vittore Carpaccio, Cima da Conegliano, Van Dyck, Corot, Degas, Nattier, George Romney, Stefan Lochner, Maurice-Quentin de La Tour, Édouard Manet, Henri Fantin-Latour, Claude Monet, Jean-François Millet, Sir Edward Burne-Jones, Thomas Gainsborough, Joseph Mallord William Turner, Jean-Honoré Fragonard, Giovanni Battista Moroni, Frans Hals, Ruisdael, Boucher, Largillière, Andrea della Robbia, Pisanello, Jean-Baptiste Pigalle, Antonio Rossellino, André-Charles Boulle, Charles Cressent, Oeben, Riesener,Antoine-Sébastien Durand, Charles Spire, Jean Deforges, François-Thomas Germain.

Some of the works in the collection were bought during the Soviet sale of Hermitage paintings. Of the about 6000 items in the museum’s collections a selection of around 1000 is on permanent exhibition. The museum is located within a landscaped park, at the intersection of Av. de Berna and Av. António Augusto de Aguiar, in Lisbon.

The Calouste Gulbenkian Collection comprises some 6000 pieces. The Museum houses on the permanent exhibition galleries 1000 of its most representative works. A short selection choice of the most outstanding pieces in the Calouste Gulbenkian Museum belonging to different sections.

Mesopotamian Art
Eastern Art
Armeniam Art
Far Eastern Art
Sculpture
Art of The Book
Painting
Decorative Arts
René Lalique

Visitor information:

Address:
Av. de Berna 45A
1067-001 Lisboa Codex
Tel: 21 7823000
Fax: 21 7823032

Transport:
Metro: S. Sebastião or Praça de Espanha stations
Buses: 16, 726, 56, 718, 742

Car Parks (pay):
Avenida de Berna and Avenida Visconde de Valbom

Opening Times:
Tuesday to Sunday: 10 a.m. to 5.45 p.m.
Closed on Mondays, and on the following holidays:
January 1, Easter Sunday, May 1,
and December 25

Access:
Lift, ramps and toilet facilities for visitors with with mobility impairments

If it is curiosity that stimulates the mind and induces the collector, the object of art he chooses out of his passion cannot be isolated from the expectations of a certain time, or of other people. In a way, the collector searches and brings together works of art that others would like to find and gather. Most of the time without knowing it, the collector turns other people’s dreams into reality. It is the relationship between one’s dreams and those of others that determines the destiny of any collection and ensures its place in the community.

The Berardo Collection is the result of an exercise in open-mindedness. We have made an effort to acquire works, which would illustrate, through their quality, the creative imagination of the artists. We do not accept any kind of limitation regarding movements, techniques or nationalities. On the contrary, we wish to keep these Collections open to the future and open to the public. Nevertheless visiting this site does not replace true contact with the work of art.

The site is an approximate illustration of the Collections – new artworks are being added – to remind people, and also myself that artistic creation is the human condition in its freer form. In the last three decades, friends, collaborators, consultants and writers have helped me collect these works of art following rigorous criteria.

I hope this Collection will inspire other Institutions and individuals to create and broaden collections, so that the coming generations may keep alive our days, our concerns, and our hopes through Art.

Joe Berardo

The museum holds collections that have the East as the main theme, the slopes historical, religious, anthropological and artistic.
The permanent exhibition includes 1400 pieces alluding to the Portuguese presence in Asia and 650 pieces belonging to the collection Kwok on.

Address: Av. de Brasília, Doca de Alcântara (Norte), 1350 Lisbon.