«My position is one of constant interrogation.»
— Expresso, 22 April 1989, Portugal
(in José Saramago in his own words, Porto Editora, p. 42, 2021)
It can be visited until Janueary 08, 2023 at MNAC, the exhibition “WHY? CONTEMPORARY ART IN DIALOGUE WITH THE THINKING OF JOSÉ SARAMAGO”, in the year of the centenary of his birth (1922-2010).
Curated by Ana Matos, and part of the Centenary of Birth by José Saramago (1922-2010), 
the show presents 40 works of art by 29 Portuguese artists, produced between 1895 and 2016, and which form part of the MNAC and the Collection of Contemporary State Art (CACE).
The proposed connection between the writer's works and texts is 
inspired by the phrase "all literature is a palimpsest", mentioned by Saramago in 
an interview given on the occasion of a trip to Latin America. The term palimpsest, 
meaning “to scrape to write again”, is evoked here as the territory in which Art takes place, as a succession of layers of memories, references, with their own time and space that bring together present, past and future existence. .
The selection of the 40 works started from the identification of a set of recurring and fundamental themes in José Saramago's thought, having created, from the beginning, an active and constant dialogue between works/artist and the writer's universe. In this sense, the exhibition space is organized into 4 groups that address the same number of topics: Human rights; Alterity and identity; Sustainability; Memory and word.
Representing different generations and offering different artistic expressions and sensibilities, 
the exhibition presents works by Alberto Carneiro, Álvaro Lapa, Ana Vieira, André Cepeda, António Pedro, António Sena, Bartolomeu Cid dos Santos, Carlos Nogueira, 
Fernando Brito, Fernando Calhau, Fernando Lemos, Filipa César, Helena Almeida, João Tabarra, João Vieira, 
Jorge Molder, José de Brito, Júlia Ventura, Julião Sarmento, Júlio Pomar, Júlio Resende, Lourdes Castro, 
Luísa Cunha, Nikias Skapinakis, Paulo Nozolino, Pedro Gomes, Querubim Lapa, Salette Tavares, Vasco Araújo

Guided tours to the exhibition with the curator
Dates/time: 11.30 am
Sundays
16 october
4 december
18 december - 12 pm

08 January - 12 pm

................

Dates/Time: 5.30 pm

tuesday

29 November
thursdays
20 October

15 december