Fondation Calouste Gulbenkian — About — Slash Paris

The Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation is a private Portuguese organisation. It was created in 1956, following the testamentary will of its founder who was a businessman of Armenian descent with British nationality, who died in Lisbon in 1955 where he had been living since 1942.

Pioneer of the oil industry, Calouste Sarkis Gulbenkian was also a major art collector. The Gulbenkian Museum, which opened in Lisbon in 1969, now hosts his entire remarkable collection of 6.000 items from Antiquity to the middle of the 20th century: ancient Egyptian statuettes, Art Nouveau jewellery, Islamic arts, Eastern and Western arts from the Middle Ages to the 19th century, French furniture from the 17th and 18th centuries, creations by René Lalique.

The Foundation is active in the fields of art, education, science and philanthropy. Opened in 1969, the Art Library is an important documentation centre based on Calouste Gulbenkian’s personal library which included a great collection of art books.

The CAM (Centro de Arte Moderna) has the largest collection of 20th century Portuguese art. It is devoted to the promotion and study of modern and contemporary art. The collection also includes work by various foreign artists and an important collection of British contemporary art. In Paris, the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation aims to provide an excellent international artistic programme. It produces three exhibitions a year as well as other artistic projects such as installations or performances. In collaboration with internationally renowned curators, the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation in Paris aims to present artists (at the beginning of their career or already well established) whose artistic practice is unique, regardless of the medium. The artists and their artworks are at the core of the programme, as are the issues relating to contemporary production. The French Delegation also aims to contribute to the major debates concerning civil society, the voluntary sector, foundations and culture by organising a programme of conferences called “Tout se Transforme”.

Finally, the French Delegation supports the diffusion of the Portuguese language in France and worldwide, via its Portuguese language library which contains over 80.000 publications and proposes a programme of conferences and debates in relation to literature, humanities and social sciences in Portuguese.