72 Hours in Lisbon

In our opinion there’s no bad time to visit the Portugese capital city of Lisbon. The city offers an array of cultural sites both contemporary and historic, as well as exciting culinary options and breathtaking views of the Tagus river. We go beyond the charming yellow trams and azulejos (blue and white tiles) to explore Lisbon’s arty side with insider tips from local guide Kasia who is also an independent curator living in the city. You can learn more about Oh So Arty tours in Lisbon here.

Kasia leading a tour at Galeria Graça Brandão

There are a lot of great neighborhoods in Lisbon and one of Kasia’s favorites is Marvila. In recent years creative spaces have been popping up all over this post-industrialist neighborhood. While you’re there make sure to visit Fábrica Braço de Prata a former factory converted into an alternative cultural complex hosting exhibitions, live music and performances. Thirdbase is another innovative project in the Marvila neighborhood. It is an art and residency program that also has a street level gallery and community space to host exhibitions and other events. You can also soak up the local culture by just wandering the streets of Marvila which are full of colorful murals.

Thirdbase art and residency program

If you’re looking to get some retail therapy in visit the antique store Cantinho do Vintage for unique furniture finds and other vintage treasures. For food make sure to enjoy the food, drinks and energy of El Bulo Social Club. This restaurant is the project of Chakall an Argentinian celebrity chef and combines Argentinian and Peruvian cuisines in a fun atmosphere. Another option in Marvila is Cafe com calma for a healthy lunch.

Cafe con calma

Alvalade is another one of Kasia’s favorite neighborhoods because it is yet to be discovered by most tourists and you can really feel the local vibe. This neighborhood is a must for art lovers looking to visit galleries and other art projects. While you’re there plan to visit Galeria Vera Cotes and Appleton Square. Before going to Alvalade, start your day with visit at Graça Brandão and 3+1 Contemporary Art around Principe Real neighborhood. These galleries offer quality contemporary content that a local and international audience can appreciate. After a full day of gallery hopping treat yourself to dinner at Sem Palavras. Open until late you will find delicious local Portugese cuisine and fresh seafood at this popular restaurant.

El Bulo Social Club

Lisbon offers an array of unique lodgings so you are sure to find exactly what you’re looking for. Located on the outskirts of the city is the stunning Olissippo Lapa Palace Hotel. The hotel is housed in a former manor which has a pool and spa making it the perfect destination to unwind from a long day of touring. Without contest the Palácio Belmonte in Alfama is our favorite hotel offering in the city. The stunning building feels like a museum and dates back to the 15th century. It is decorated in thousands of azulejos tiles and each corner is more beautiful than the next.

Palácio Belmonte

While there are ample cosmopolitan activities abound there are also some green spaces to relax in around the city. Jardim da Cerca da Graça is perfectly located in the city center but is quiet and green. There is a cute coffee kiosk, playgrounds and an amazing view of São Jorge castle.

Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation cannot be missed for both its exhibitions and beautiful gardens. In addition to travelling exhibitions visitors can explore both the Founder’s Collection and the Modern Collection. The Founder’s Collection consists of works acquired by Calouste Sarkis Gulbenkian and is one of the best private art collections in the world with works from antiquity to the early 20th century. You can juxtapose these galleries with the Modern Collection, which has the largest collection of modern and contemporary Portugese art anywhere. In between galleries unwind and enjoy a treat at the museum cafe offering views of the scenic garden.

Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation

The best way to toast your long weekend in Lisbon is with drinks at the Sky Bar Tivoli. Located on the top floor of the Hotel Tivoli on Lisbon’s main street Avenida Liberdade there is no better way to conclude your trip than with this view.

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Sky Bar Tivoli

Finding the balance between tranquility and violence: A studio visit with Lisbon’s Manuel Tainha

*To learn more about Lisbon’s contemporary art scene and to visit Manuel Tainha’s studio, book a tour with our local art insider Kasia.

Article written by art writer and contributor Joy Bernard 

Up-and-coming Portugese artist Manuel Tainha’s studio is nestled in the heart of Portugal’s capital. When the painter greets us at the entrance to the small, sun-dappled room, it is hard to believe that the close quarters tucked away in a typical Lisbonian residential building are the environs where he creates his luminous and colorful oeuvres. 

But for Tainha, who recently returned to his country after a ten-month study period in the German port city of Hamburg, this modest space is just right. The artist, whose main mediums are bleach-manipulated paintings and stitch work, gestures around him at several finished works leaning casually against the walls. “All of this has been made possible,” he explains, “because I have this.” The painter points at an endearing but somewhat infantile figure with outstretched arms reaching toward the sun. “This is my first-ever work that I produced as a child. I could never make something as authentic again,” he exclaims with a laugh. 

The creation, which hangs alongside several brushes and adjacent to a wall that features some of his newest experiments with thread and needle, is a modest reference to his roots. More obvious nods to his Portugese cultural heritage can be found in unconventional crafts such as small, traditional soap bars he has imbued with streaks of blue. Tainha explains that the idea of incorporating the soap in his artworks emerged when he was studying at the HFBK Fine Arts University in Hamburg under the auspices of the esteemed artist Anslem Reyele. “People use it in Portugal to clean their clothes and even shower. I like the idea that if you sell this work and it disintegrates, the collector has the recipe to make more soap,” he reveals. 

No second chances

Another locally-produced and surprising material that is dominant in the artist’s work is bottled bleach. Yes, the same kind that can be found at cleaning supplies stores – except whereas the average person would use it as a disinfectant, Tainha has been using it to create tantalizing canvases. Those display fabrics in vibrant hues that are marked by amorphous, cloudy shapes he forms by tainting them with the bleach. “I use this specific type of bleach that people buy here to clean their floors because of the cultural value I try to convey in my works,” the artist says. 

The substance may be more commonplace in crime scenes than in the art world, but it is exactly this stark quality which drew Tainha to it. “It started for me because I wanted to work with this idea of subtraction of color. I began doing that with sun exposure to better understand the undertones of the industrial colors I was working with, and I turned to bleach in order to accelerate that process,” he recalls. 

The attraction to bleach, the artist admits, stems from its “fatal quality.” After his studies at the Faculty of Fine Arts in the University of Lisbon, he abandoned oil paintings and adopted this material “because once you stain [the work] with it you cannot change it. With oil you have the ability to come back to the same painting and amend it, and I like the idea that you don’t have second chances with your paintings.” 

Tainha says that movement is a significant element that affects his process. As an example, he brings up a memory of his past as a rugby player. Showing us an image hanging by the door of an empty field where he once played, the painter says: “It look like a violent sport but it’s also subtle. The duality between tranquility and violence is something I like to explore. Think about 30 guys playing a violent sport in the middle of this peaceful field. I draw from that in my work, the aspect of movement – the memory of the movement is imprinted in it.”

Another source of inspiration that impacts the artist’s work is light. He credits Lisbon’s natural, soft light for being one of the incentives to go back to working in his homeland, where the local art scene is fast evolving. “Some of my works are really influenced by what my eyes can catch, the light falling on the pastel colors of the buildings of Lisbon. Being here has both an emotional and aesthetic value.” 

Joy Bernard is a senior news editor at Israel’s leading English-language daily Haaretz. Based in Tel Aviv, she writes about politics, arts and culture in the Middle East for various publications.

*To learn more about Lisbon’s contemporary art scene and to visit Manuel Tainha’s studio, book a tour with our local art insider Kasia.

*Cover picture by Fabio Cunha for the Collectors Agenda

*All other pictures by Carl Holck and courtesy of Last Resort Gallery