Atelier-Museu Júlio Pomar had 7,536 visitors in Lisbon and 15,000 visitors in the Côa
The Atelier-Museu Júlio Pomar, in Lisbon, received 7,536 visitors last year, and another 15,000 visited the exhibition in the Museum of the Côa “Incisão no Tempo“, of the collection of that entity in roaming.
The director of the atelier-museum, Sara Antónia Matos, indicated that the space in Lisbon had a drop of about two thousand visitors last year, due to the slowdown in activity, a result of the impact of the weakness and later death of the artist in May, at the age of 92.
Last year, however, the atelier began a tour of its collection with the exhibition “Incision in Time, Works of the Atelier-Museums Júlio Pomar Collection”, held at the Côa Museum, which mobilized about 15,000 people.
According to the management, this effort to publicize the collection “out of doors” will have developments in 2019, with two exhibitions already scheduled for Leiria and Viana do Castelo.
In 2017, the atelier-museum in Lisbon received 9,811 visitors, 2,275 more than last year.
Asked about this decrease in visitors in Lisbon, Sara Antónia Matos indicated that it is related to a certain slowdown in the activity of the studio, namely at the level of conferences, debates and book launches, due to the progressive physical weakness of the painter Júlio Pomar, who died in May 22 at the age of 92.
“I think this happened because he saw in us, two ‘pairs’ with whom he could talk about art and the new directions that the artistic expression was taking“.
“Despite our age differences with the painter – 50 years – he had absolute confidence in the artistic program we presented to him, and he was always full of curiosity,” he said.
She said that “as long as the forces allowed her, there was no debate, conference, presentation, the opening of exhibition or launch, in which he was not present, almost always actively participating.”
“I made a point of getting the guests and making them feel that the house was theirs, and not just for their work,” told the director of the atelier-museum.
Júlio Pomar has followed the entire project of the atelier-museum since its inception in 2013. It has hosted around 700 works donated by the artist to the Júlio Pomar Foundation, such as painting, sculpture, drawing, engraving, ceramics, collages and assemblage.
“When we saw it weakened and with the forces below, we reduced the activities so as not to disturb it, and not to make it feel that it could not correspond to a rhythm that we have already resumed to all the gas,” she added.
Painter and sculptor, born in Lisbon in 1926, Júlio Pomar left a work that is considered of reference in the history of modern and contemporary art.
