The what collection? If you’ve never heard of this Portugese collection (like me), perhaps you should know that the general consensus is that the artworks it contains rival those of the Tate Modern, the Centre Pompidou and the Guggenheim…

Andy Warhol, Ten-foot Flowers, 1967


Born in 1944 on Madeira Island, José Berardo is one of the biggest Portugese businessmen. Iconoclastic, he emigrated to South Africa at the age of 19 where he made his fortune in various businesses such as gold, wine, banking anf telecommunication. Once back in Portugal, he started to assemble one of the most interesting colelctions of modern and contemporary art in the whole of Europe.

Eager to share his love of art with the public, Berardo signed a partnership with the Portugese state, much like the one linking Thyssen and Madrid. His collection of 826 pieces of art which, he says, « allow one to experience the 20th Century » is now on show at the museum that carries his name in Lisbon, between the Belém Tower and the Jerónimos monastery. When it opened in June 2007, the Prime Minister José Sócrates s’enthused « Before, the route of European modern art stopped at Madrid. From now on it starts from here. »

Tom Wesselmann, Great American Nude #52, 1963

The seventy-four works on display in the Musée du Luxembourg at the Musée du Luxembourg correspond to five major artistic movements in the twentieth century: Surrealism (Miró, Dali, Ernst, Breton…); abstraction from 1910 to the immediate post-war period (Mondrian, Tanguy, Arp…); Europe vs. America in the 1960s, with Nouveau Réalisme and Pop Art (Warhol, Klein, Soulages, Mitchell…) ; post-1945 plastic explorations (Riopelle, Schnabel, Stella…).

Here’s all the essential information for the exhibition De Miró à Warhol – La Collection Berardo at the Musée du Luxembourg

When: from 16th October 2008 – 22nd February 2009
Where: Musée du Luxembourg, 19 rue de Vaugirard, 75006 Paris. Métro Saint-Sulpice (line 4) ou Rennes (line 12). RER B, station Luxembourg, exit marked Jardin du Luxembourg. Bus n°s 84, 58, 89
Opening hours: open every day of the week. Mondays, Fridays and Saturdays from 10.30am – 10pm. Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays from 10.30am – 7pm. Sundays from 9.30am – 7pm
Ticket prices: Adults 11 €, concessions 9 € (10-25 year-olds, unemplyed). Free for children under 10 accompanied by their family. Queue-jumper tickets (more expensive! 12 € or 10 €, plus 2 € booking fee per order) available at www.billet-coupe-file.com or usual outlets such as the FNAC
More information: on the official site herei

Bigger map here