Exhibition in Évora presents almost 30 works from EDP Collection

Quase 30 works of the Art Collection EDP Foundation, of 19 Portuguese artists, can be appreciated in Évora, from Saturday, an exhibition that honors those who work in the field, starting from the novel "Aparção", by Vergílio Ferreira.

The collective show entitled “The two deaths of Bailot. Works of the EDP Foundation Art Collection”, will be inaugurated, at 16:00 Saturday, at the Centre for Art and Culture (CAC) of Fundação Eugenio de Almeida (FEA), where it is patent to the public until 11 April 2027.

In a statement, FEA revealed that the initiative, curated by Bruno Marchand, brings together works of “some of the most relevant contemporary Portuguese artists” and proposes “a reflection on artistic creation, the human condition and the cycles of transformation of life”.

Among the 19 artists represented in the show, he indicated the organization, include Alberto Carneiro, Ana Jotta, Armanda Duarte, Carlos Nogueira, Fernanda Fragateiro, Francisco Tropa, Helena Almeida, Jorge Molder, Jorge Pinheiro or José Pedro Croft.

The rest are Maria José Oliveira, Michael Biberstein, Paulo Brighenti, Pedro Sousa Vieira, René Bertholo, Rosário Rebello de Andrade, Rui Sanches, Rui Toscano and Vasco Costa.

Contacted by the agency Lusa, curator Bruno Marchand explained that they will be presented “27 artistic works, between painting, sculpture, photography, video, drawing and engraving”.

“ This exhibition is important as it brings [Evora] works of an important set of Portuguese artists within the largest collections of contemporary art in the country”, the EDP Foundation, argued.

To add to this, he continued, “it is relevant that the exhibition, rather than being conceived within the context of the collection to be presented in Évora, was thought from Évora, namely from the book ‘Appearance’, by Vergílio Ferreira, and from a very concrete character of this novel, called Bailote”.

“ So this show is a tribute to this character and, by inherence, to all people who, like Bailote, found justification for their lives in the fields of Alentejo and its cycles ", stressed Bruno Marchand.

In the statement, FEA stated that the initiative has as its starting point the “figure of Bailote, secondary character” of Vergílio Ferreira’s novel and “Alentejan peasant whose existence was closely linked to the gesture of sowing”.

“ When his hand, once able to throw the seed to the earth, loses this capacity, Bailote sees the reason for being of his own life and decides to die ", he said.

In the exhibition, “his extreme gesture becomes the starting point for a broader reflection on creation, finitude, renewal and transcendence”.

Structured around two complementary routes, the exhibition “is developed as a metaphor of the two deaths of Bailote”.

“ One of the circuits calls questions of spiritual, symbolic and teleological order, exploring the relationship between light and darkness, rationality and expression, presence and absence ", indicated.

The other “focuss on the body, matter and nature, evoking the cycles of growth, wear and regeneration that go through all forms of life”, he said.

In the end, he emphasized the organization, “the idea of rebirth, alchemical transformation of matter and persistence of the creative impulse emerges”.

The EDP Foundation Collection, created in 2000, is one of the most important and comprehensive institutional collections of contemporary art in Portugal, bringing together about 2,500 works by more than 340 artists.