Exhibition Opening: 18 June at 6 pm 

Fernando Lanhas (Porto, Portugal, 1923—2012) was one of the leading figures of Portuguese art of the 20th century. From the mid-1940s onwards, his painting pioneered the introduction of geometric abstraction in Portugal.

He described Man as ‘a masterly phenomenon’ in a text published in 2000 that elucidates his thinking, world-view and understanding of something that is bigger than the world, the universe. The text reflects his conception of reality, based on a central unit — the human being — which serves as the scale of his entire artistic process.

Man is a masterly phenomenon

Spawned on a planet.

We don’t know why.

Driven by compulsive instincts

Like other animals,

He perfected a cerebral development

Which endowed him with technical ability.

Knowledge in science and mathematics,

Understanding in art,

Philosophical acumen,

They made man an adventure.

Trained as an architect, Fernando Lanhas soon realised that to attain his research goals he would have to explore other personal interests, such as painting, drawing, archaeology, botany, astronomy, ethnology and museography, as well as poetic and fictional writing. Ultimately, isn’t an architect’s work always interdisciplinary and collaborative?

Fernando Lanhas. Man Is a Masterly Phenomenon marks the centenary of the artist’s birth and includes a significant group of his works, both from the Serralves Collection and from the generous deposit of works agreed more than twenty years ago in dialogue with the artist, that is particularly relevant of his oeuvre. The works featured pay testimony to the wide array of areas that he explored, offering a unique opportunity to understand the simultaneous, and reconcilable, diversity and coherence of one of the most fascinating oeuvres of the second half of the last century.

This exhibition, curated by Marta Moreira de Almeida, is part of the Serralves Collection Touring Exhibition Programme, which aims to make the Foundation’s collection accessible to different audiences across the country.

Production: Fundação de Serralves – Museu de Arte Contemporânea, Porto