I and The Others is a metaphor which alludes to the unique relationships that Alberto Caetano forms with artists, based on aesthetic and emotional affinities.

A passionate collector since early adolescence, this Lisbon architect has selected a group of works from his collection to enter into dialogue with each other, and with each visitor. Games are played with light and with shadow, with conversations and with dreams: the symbolic chiaroscuro of António Carneiro’s painting of an interior confronts Pedro Cabrita Reis’s allegorical sculpture; Jorge Molder’s self-portrait converses with Albuquerque Mendes’s painting; Rui Chafes’s circular sculpture interacts with Ilda David’s colour; Dan Flavin’s poetry of line and light establishes a dialogue with Jorge Martins’s painting; the folkloric figure of Rosa Ramalho makes its way toward the ‘signic’ painting of Joaquim Rodrigo. I and The Others. The Alberto Caetano Collection presents fragments of a collection in a multiple investigation that is not informed by chronologies or by aesthetic movements, but which draws on artistic and thematic affinities and the formal comparisons suggested by the works themselves.

This exhibition, the first to be organised by the Friends of the Museum, is a tribute to all collectors who welcome the challenge of sharing.