New Exhibition of the Bordalo Pinheiro Museum Collection

The Bordalo Pinheiro Museum in Lisbon inaugurated its new long-term exhibition on January 15, 2026, presenting a contemporary and current view of the life and work of Rafael Bordalo Pinheiro.

Rafael Bordalo Pinheiro was a caricaturist, illustrator, and creator of various graphic works, a costume designer, and also a ceramist, decorator, and businessman. In the words of his great friend César Machado: “An artist. An artist in everything and of everything.”

Born in Lisbon, he lived there for a large part of his life. He associated with, befriended, and collaborated with important writers, journalists, actors, playwrights, and directors. Entrepreneurial, dynamic, and enthusiastic, he was a lover of theater and visual arts. He traveled and visited important European cities, and lived in Rio de Janeiro for four years, where he directed three of the eight humorous newspapers he founded throughout his life. A 19th-century man, liberal, anti-monarchist, anti-clerical, socially committed, he dreamed of and fought for the Republic. A defender of progress, but also of traditions and with respect for the historical past. A supporter of abolitionism, yet a defender of the Portuguese colonial empire. Cheerful, witty, he laughed and made the society of his time laugh. Today he makes us laugh and reflect.

This exhibition seeks to showcase the legacy of this remarkable and complex figure in the different areas in which he worked and acted.