The origins of the museum lie in the important collection of Bordalo’s work belonging to Arthur Ernesto Santa Cruz Magalhães (1864-1928). As well as a collector, Cruz Magalhães was a poet, pamphleteer, critic and humorist, and an unconditional admirer of Rafael Bordalo’s work, to such an extent that he founded a museum in tribute to the artist, which he directed until his death. In 1913, architect Álvaro Augusto Machado (1874-1944) was commissioned to design a villa in Campo Grande, which was to become the collection’s home.
The museum opened to the public in 1916, still confined to the first floor, but remodelling in 1922 provided it with new exhibition rooms. At the time, there were a significant number of activities to promote the artist’s work, including thematic exhibitions, conferences and the creation of the museum’s Friends and Supporters Group.
Donation to Lisbon City Council
From the moment the museum was created, the founder nurtured the idea of bequeathing his collection and the museum to the city of Lisbon, which was fulfilled in 1924. After revitalisation works, the museum reopened in 1926, now in the possession of Lisbon City Council, remodelled and enlarged on the ground floor, and now offering the public not just the graphic work of Rafael Bordalo and his son Manuel Gustavo, but also an important ceramics collection and a specialised library. Meanwhile, new pieces were included, the result of purchases and donations of works that until then had belonged to members of the Bordalo Pinheiro family and private collectors.
Cruz Magalhães’ death, in 1928, left Julieta Ferrão in charge of the museum, while the Friends and Supporters Group took on the role of promoting the artist’s work. In 1942, the museum joined the newly created Municipal Museums Service and, in 1962, it came under joint management with the Museu da Cidade and the Museu Antoniano. In 1992, the construction of a new building in the area behind the museum was an attempt to broach the issue of lack of space in the original villa and also to provide a temporary exhibition gallery. The museum suffered serious structural problems, in 1999, due the building of a property on adjoining land, and was forced to close for consolidation works. It reopened to the public in 2005, after intensive restoration of the entire complex and surrounding area, adopting a new museological programme based on updated research. The exhibition supports were devised to allow the rotation of the collection, thus enabling the cyclical renewal of the permanent exhibition and, simultaneously, the promotion of its vast archive of works to the public. In 2016, the year of its centenary, the Bordalo Pinheiro Museum once again came under new authority, changing from Lisbon City Council to the EGEAC – Empresa de Gestão de Equipamentos e Animação Cultural. This move brought about a significantly wider-ranging programme, as well as the opening of the Sala da Paródia, or Parody Room, devoted to short-term exhibitions and other activities.
The collections
The Bordalo Pinheiro Museum brings together a remarkable library and collection around the artistic work of Rafael Bordalo Pinheiro and his son, Manuel Gustavo, with emphasis on the following typologies: Drawing, Prints, Painting, Ceramics, Tiles, Equipment and tools, Photographs and Documents.