New Acquisitions: Historical Artists (2025)

Spanning the period from 1983 to the present day, Stories of the Collection summarises key moments in the formation of the Caixa Geral de Depósitos (CGD) Collection. Across distinct points and through the presentation of its most important acquisitions, we follow the desires, tastes, policies and circumstances of each specific moment of the collection’s development: The Decorative Collection (1983-1989); The Art Collection (1990-1997); Diversification (2000-2004); Photographs (1991 and 2005); Precision (2004-2008 and 2014); Prints (2007); Donations and Bequests (1967-2021); Resuming Acquisitions (2020-2021); New Acquisitions (2022-2025); and Caixa Contest for Young Artists (2022-2025).

A key figure in the Portuguese art scene, the set of works by Júlio Pomar in the CGD Collection is reinforced with the painting Le Cachot (1980). After a period marked by the freedom and eroticism that characterised the 1970s, the painter focused on the enigmatic and powerful image of the tiger, a figure that would accompany him throughout the 1980s, using collages of various pictorial and textural elements to harmonise the composition. 2026 marks the 100th anniversary of the artist's birth, which will be celebrated with several events, including an exhibition at the National Pantheon, which will include works from the CGD Collection, on display from September to December.

Fernando Calhau developed his work in long series that revealed specific and persistent concerns. In these small drawings, published in the book Passageiro Assediado, in collaboration with Clara Ferreira Alves, the artist focuses on cracks and wounds that evoke the finitude of the body and the proximity of death. At the same time, demonstrating his unique abilities in the Portuguese cultural scene, the artist played a key role in promoting contemporary art, taking on the position of Consultant to the CGD Administration for the acquisition of works of art (1992–1997) and participating in the launch of the Institute of Contemporary Art (1997–2000).

Ana Hatherly developed her work masterfully between literature and the visual arts. An avant-garde poet linked to concrete and experimental poetry, she also published essays and fiction. In her small drawings the artist revealed a sophisticated visual lexicon that elevates writing as image and evokes a promising abstract narrative. Through signs, symbols, gestures, scratches and other acts of erasure, the drawings are freed from formal constraints and reveal an intelligent and sensitive hand, capable of simultaneously reassuring and unsettling the senses of those who read and observe them.