MNAC - Rua Capelo

entry: General Conditions

Metamorphoses of Humanity

2019-03-22
2019-06-02
Curatorship: Jorge da Costa e Emília Ferreira

A collection of over eighty drawings and paintings on paper make up the exhibition Metamorphoses of Humanity, by painter Graça Morais.  Reflecting on the multiple faces of human nature, with its weaknesses and frightening predatory attitudes, these recent drawings by Graça Morais (carried out in 2018) offer us, as if in a broken mirror, multiple reflections of our many everyday fears: war, exclusion, absolute loss, hunger and death. In each of the works on display, like in small pieces of a fragmented world, we recognise emotions that are familiar to us.  Greed, the ability to destroy, the will to refuse another their humanity and dignity, and the desire for control — all of these are present. But there’s more. Alongside the suffering of the victims, also depicted here, in their silent and ultimate act of resistance, irrepressible in their demand for dignity, the obstinate path towards hope is seen to emerge. Empathy for the victims, the ability to give a voice to the voiceless, is felt and heard in these works that put a magnifying glass up to the great tensions of our time, condensed in disturbing and moving images.

In addition to the works that featured previously, in 2018, at the Graça Morais Contemporary Art Centre in Bragança, the MNAC exhibition now includes other recent works. After Lisbon, it will be Porto’s turn to host Metamorphoses of Humanity, in the Soares dos Reis National Museum, from 25 July to 29 September.



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Activities

    2019-03-21 19h00
    Opening
    2019-04-13

    16h00
    17h00
    Guided visit
    2019-05-17

    18h30
    20h00
    not available
    2019-05-18 18h00
    Guided visit
    2019-05-30 18h30
    not available
All Activities 3

On Exhibition

The c(AI)rcles’s Pentagon

By Gencork | Sofalca

2025-05-28
2025-06-26
Curatorship: Portugal Faz Bem
The design/art installation - The c(AI)rcle´s pentagon, which explores the connection between artificial intelligence, (re)generativedesign, art, and sustainability
Solo show

Caminhos

Millennium bcp Collection

2025-05-16
2025-08-24
Curatorship: Emília Ferreira, Regina Branco e Joana d’Oliva Monteiro
he vital need for contact with nature, also advocating movement as the essence of life, inspired by the thought of the writer and naturalist Henry David Thoreau
Temporary Exhibition

THE WHITE MAN'S BURDEN

João Fonte Santa

2025-04-10
2025-07-03
Curatorship: Lúcia Saldanha e Rui Afonso Santos
With an extremely relevant body of work in painting, drawing and illustration, João Fonte Santa analyses and dissects the heavy legacy of European colonialism, particularly in the case of Portugal.
Solo show

ALDEBARAN FALLEN TO THE GROUND

2025-03-13
2025-06-22
Aldebaran Fallen to the Ground is a series of shaped paintings, with irregular, organic contours. The intensity and incidence of light intrude on the viewing of those (most of them) faces, painted in oil pastels.
Solo show

Impressões Digitais. MNAC Collection

2024-12-12
2026-12-30
Curatorship: Ana Guimarães, Emília Ferreira, Maria de Aires Silveira e Tiago Beirão Veiga
Consisting of founding works of contemporary Portuguese art historiography, from 1850 to the present day, the MNAC's collection holds several national treasures.
Permanent Exhibition

Since 1911

2022-05-26
2026-05-26
An intervention that celebrates 110 years of the MNAC.
114 years