Lost in Lisbon

Frida Orupabo, Reclining Woman II, 2022, from her solo exhibition Cloud of Confusion at MAC/CCB — Museum of Contemporary Art and Architecture Centre at the Belém Cultural Centre. Photo: Renée Riccardo

 

By PAUL LASTER and RENEE RICCARDO, August 25, 2026

Stopping over in Lisbon for four days en route from Zurich to New York, we booked an apartment in the centrally located Bairro Alto neighborhood and hit the ground running. With much to see in a short amount of time, we headed straight to Cristina Guerra Contemporary Art to catch João Pedro Vale + Nuno Alexandre Ferreira’s exhibition DAWN and to get some tips on what was new to the scene, which was plenty since our last visit in 2024.

We visited Rialto6’s new art bookstore on our way to the Museum of Art, Architecture and Technology (MAAT), where we saw two eye-catching solo shows by Brazilian sculptor Anna Maria Maiolino and Portuguese artist Manuel João Vieira. We then took the Ponte Pedonal e de Ciclovia do MAAT pedestrian walkway from the museum’s roof to catch an Uber to the MAC/CCB — the Museum of Contemporary Art and Architecture Centre at the Belém Cultural Centre.

The MAC/CCB featured a variety of exhibitions, including the group show “Multiple Eyes,” and showcased its outstanding collection of modern and contemporary artworks, such as Ad Minoliti's installation of wall works by the Argentinian artist. Standout shows included surveys of minimalist, geometric sculptures, paintings, drawings, and prints by Portuguese artist José Pedro Croft, and of Norwegian-Nigerian artist Frida Orupabo’s photo-collages, sculptures, and video installations that explore race, gender, family relations, colonialism, and identity.
 

Cristina Guerra bobblehead on her gallery's bookshelf. Photo: Paul Laster

The following day, Cristina Guerra introduced us to MACAM - Museu de Arte Contemporânea Armando Martins, a dynamic complex in a renovated 18th-century palace and modern buildings, featuring a private contemporary art museum, a five-star hotel, a restaurant, a bar, gardens, and exhibition galleries.

While that could have been enough, she also made sure we saw Pavilhão Julião Sarmento, a new contemporary art museum in Lisbon dedicated to showcasing the late Portuguese artist Julião Sarmento's private art collection, and CACE - Coleção de Arte Contemporânea do Estado, the Portuguese State Contemporary Art Collection.

Wrapping up our four-day stay, we visited some of our other favorite galleries, including Encounter, Jahn und Jahn, Consonni Radziszewski, and Pedro Cera, and discovered the Museu São Roque and its attached Igreja de São Roque, a 16th-century Jesuit church with an extraordinarily lavish, gilded interior, surprisingly located just across the plaza from our apartment. WM

 

 João Pedro Vale + Nuno Alexandre Ferreira, RISE, 2026, from their exhibition DAWN at Cristina Guerra Contemporary Art. Photo: Renée Riccardo 

 

João Pedro Vale + Nuno Alexandre Ferreira, Cry, Boy, Cry, 2026, from their exhibition DAWN at Cristina Guerra Contemporary Art. Photo: Paul Laster

 

Calçada do Duque pedestrian stairway with blooming bougainvillea and outdoor dining overlooking the city. Photo: Renée Riccardo

 

Art collector and Rialto6 co-owner Armando Cabral at the Rialto6 bookstore. Photo: Paul Laster

 

 MAAT (Museum of Art, Architecture and Technology), designed by architecture studio AL_A (Amanda Levete Architects). Photo: Paul Laster

 

Installation view, Anna Maria Maiolino: Poetic Earth (Terra Poética), at MAAT. Photo: Paul Laster

 

Anna Maria Maiolino's clay sculpture in her exhibition Poetic Earth (Terra Poética) at the MAAT. Photo: Renée Riccardo

 

Manuel João Vieira painting in his exhibition The Purple Island: Landscapes and Notes at MAAT. Photo: Paul Laster

 

Manuel João Vieira sculptural assemblage in his exhibition The Purple Island: Landscapes and Notes at MAAT. Photo: Paul Laster

 

View of the 25th of Abril Bridge, spanning the Tagus River, from MAAT. Photo: Paul Laster 

 

The illuminated Arco da Rua Augusta, framing the street at dusk, at the Praça do Comércio. Photo: Renée Riccardo

 

Matteo Consonni with a painting by Tomasz Kowalski in Kowalski’s exhibition By the Mnemosyne Sea at Consonni Radziszewski. Photo: Renée Riccardo

 

Patricia Domingues’ installation Three Moons Below in the exhibition Multiple Eyes: Patricia Domíngues, Ines Doujak, Lubaina Himid at MAC/CCB. Photo: Renée Riccardo

 

Ines Doujak’s installation Reshaping Bodies and Histories in Multiple Eyes: Patricia Domíngues, Ines Doujak, Lubaina Himid at MAC/CCB. Photo: Renée Riccardo

 

 Patricia Domíngues installation A Planet for Abu in Multiple Eyes: Patricia Domíngues, Ines Doujak, Lubaina Himid at MAC/CCB. Photo: Renée Riccardo

 

 Installation view, José Pedro Croft: Reflections, Enclaves, Deviations at MAC/CCB. Photo: Paul Laster 

 

 Installation view, José Pedro Croft: Reflections, Enclaves, Deviations at MAC/CCB. Photo: Paul Laster

 

Frida Orupabo installation from her solo exhibition Cloud of Confusion at MAC/CCB.   Photo: Renée Riccardo

 

Frida Orupabo, White Happiness, 2024, from her exhibition Cloud of Confusion at MAC/CCB. Photo: Paul Laster

 

Frida Orupabo installation from her solo exhibition Cloud of Confusion at MAC/CCB. Photo: Renée Riccardo

 

Frida Orupabo, Skirt and everything, 2026, from her exhibition Cloud of Confusion at MAC/CCB. Photo: Paul Laster

 Ad Minoliti's installation in the exhibition May I Help You? Posse Ajudar? at MAC/CCB. Photo: Renée Riccardo

 

Jahn und Jahn staff members, Zé Ortigão (sales) and Vanessa Franco (gallery manager), with a painting by Remi Ajani, from her exhibition the sound of everything repeating at Jahn und Jahn. Photo: Paul Laster

 

Traditional Portuguese pavement, featuring an iconic black-and-white wavy mosaic pattern, at Praça Dom Pedro IV, aka Rossio Square. Photo: Paul Laster

 

Sacred liturgical paintings at Museu de São Roque. Photo: Paul Laster

 

Gilded chapel inside the Igreja de São Roque. Photo: Renée Riccardo
 

Sacred sculptures at the Museu São Roque. Photo: Renée Riccardo

 

Art collector and hotel owner Armando Martins with Oliver Laric's 2022 sculpture Jüngling vom Magadalensberg (Young man from Magdalensberg) at MACAM - Museu de Arte Contemporânea Armando Martins. Photo: Paul Laster

 

Miguel Branco’s sculptural installation As Três Graças (Naked Lunch #35) at MACAM. Photo: Renée Riccardo

 

Miguel Branco’s sculpture Set titulo (Veado branco) at MACAM. Photo: Renée Riccardo

 

Fernão Cruz’s bronze wall clock Começo at MACAM. Photo: Renée Riccardo

 

MACAM director Adelaide Ginga and curator Carolina Quintela with Gilberto Zorio's 1967 sculpture Torcia at MACAM - Museu de Arte Contemporânea Armando Martins. Photo: Paul Laster

 

The lobby of MACAM with (L to R) Arlene Shechet's 2021 sculpture Inhaled a Blue Moon, BYBEAU Studio's Kaleidoscopy lighting installation, and Thomas Struth's 2004 photograph Audience 5 (Galleria dell'Accademia), Florence. Photo: Paul Laster  

 

Ross Bleckner, Remember Me, 1987 at MACAM - Museu de Arte Contemporânea Armando Martins. Photo: Paul Laster

 

Carlos Aires' painting Trinity (Trinidad) in àCapela Live Arts & Bar, a unique bar and cultural space in a restored chapel, at MACAM. Photo: Renée Riccardo

 

Column of Pedro IV at Rossio Square (Praça Dom Pedro IV). Photo: Renée Riccardo

 

Laura Peixoto, Gallery Manager, and Alexander Caspari, Founder and Director, in the garden of Encounter Gallery. Photo: Renée Riccardo

 

Whitney McVeigh works in her solo exhibition Paths Converge: Infinite Strange Shapes at Encounter Gallery. Photo: Renée Riccardo

 

Elevador de Santa Justa, an iconic 45-meter Neo-Gothic iron public elevator built in 1902. Photo: Renée Riccardo

 

Installation view, Antonio Ballester Moreno: CUTOUTS at Galeria Pedro Cera.  Photo: Renée Riccardo

 

Staff member modeling an editioned dress at the Pavilhão Julião Sarmento, a new contemporary art museum in Lisbon. Photo: Renée Riccardo

 

Lawrence Weiner work on paper, from the exhibition Once Upon a Time in America, at the Pavilhão Julião Sarmento. Photo: Paul Laster 

 

João Pedro Vale + Nuno Alexandre's installation The Tearoom, 2024, (detail) at CACE - Coleção de Arte Contemporânea do Estado, the Portuguese State Contemporary Art Collection. Photo: Paul Laster 

 

João Pedro Vale + Nuno Alexandre's installation The Tearoom, 2024, at CACE. Photo: Renée Riccardo

 

João Pedro Vale + Nuno Alexandre's installation The Tearoom, 2024, (detail) at CACE. Photo: Paul Laster

 

Installation view, Rosa Barba: Frame Time Open at Centro de Arte Moderna (CAM) Gulbenkian. Photo: Paul Laster

 

Rosa Barba, Sensible Suns, 2025, from her exhibition Frame Time Open at Centro de Arte Moderna (CAM) Gulbenkian. Photo: Paul Laster

 

Centro de Arte Moderna (CAM) Gulbenkian, designed by architect Kengo Kuma, with landscape architect Vladimir Djurovic. Photo: Paul Laster