The collector
Francisco Capelo – The passion for museums
In the panorama of collecting in Portugal in the 20th-21st centuries, Francisco Capelo's position is truly unique for a number of reasons, which I will attempt to outline. (…) Francisco Capelo exemplifies both the persistence of the elitist status of art and its museums in international culture and the philanthropic attitude that historically allowed for the creation and enrichment of many public museums.
Well rooted in this culture marked by "distinction" (in the sense attributed by Pierre Bourdieu), what I want to highlight are the particularities of the collector, rare and extraordinarily fruitful. The first of these particularities is expressed in the unusual breadth of the collecting areas to which he has dedicated himself. Initially, it was modern and contemporary art, particularly European and North American painting and sculpture, from 1920 to 2000; it then moved on to Design and Fashion, with a similar chronology and geography, and surprisingly leapt into the arts of Asia, in an expansive diaspora that spans China and Japan to India and Timor, covering various cultures of Southeast Asia, but also touching African cultures from present-day Mali. These three collecting areas were, essentially, successive: Design and Fashion replaced Modern and Contemporary Art, and Asian Arts (including the African focus mentioned) replaced Design and Fashion.
( Raquel Henriques da Silva )
History of the collection
For me, collecting has always been a great anchor, a constant source of extraordinary adventures, new encounters, and experiences
Inspired by the centuries-old connection between Portugal and Asia, I embarked on a long journey to this continent in 1999, which deeply marked me and began two decades of many more travels, encounters, discoveries, and fascination with Asian arts. Today, the collection I have passionately and astoundingly gathered contains more than 1300 works of art that span a wide variety of media and are associated with different historical periods and countries from South, East, and Southeast Asia.
The Collection was created from the outset with the aim of introducing the "real" Asia to the Portuguese public, not just the encounter between the Portuguese and that continent. It was also my intention to make this Collection public and permanently exhibit its works of art through the opening of a "Casa Ásia" in Lisbon.
( Francisco Capelo )
