Centenary of the Museum (1916-2016)

On 6 August 1916, the Bordalo Pinheiro Museum opened its doors to the public. Founded by the collector Cruz Magalhães, it was pioneering in the context of Portuguese museums, having been the first museum built from scratch to house an artist’s work.

The building of the Bordalo Pinheiro Museum, designed in 1914 by architect Álvaro Machado in the style of the typical Portuguese house, received, that same year, an honourable mention in the Valmor Prize. A detached villa and the collector’s residence, it included three rooms on the first floor for the display of Rafael Bordalo Pinheiro’s works, in particular drawings and prints, but also cuttings albums and some ceramic pieces. At the time of its opening, it already had four exhibition rooms, bearing witness to the growth of the collection and the effort undertaken by the founder in the acquisition and donation of pieces for the museum. The rooms were packed full of framed pieces, hung along almost the entire extension of the walls, as was the style of the period.

A display of documents evokes various aspects of the opening of the museum, such as the first ticket and a view of the building at the time, in the middle of a row of houses now disappeared. On the first centenary of the Bordalo Pinheiro Museum, this display pays tribute to its founder, a man of letters who, in 1924, bequeathed to the city of Lisbon a unique collection dedicated to one of the greatest personalities in Portuguese art, Rafael Bordalo Pinheiro.