Fundação de Serralves (Porto)

The Serralves Foundation (Fundação de Serralves) is a cultural institution on Rua Dom João de Castro in the Foz do Douro area of Porto, Portugal. It was created in 1989 and centres on the Serralves Museum of Contemporary Art, which opened in 1999 in a building designed by the Pritzker Prize-winning Porto architect Álvaro Siza Vieira. The estate also includes the Casa de Serralves, a pink Art Deco villa built in the late 1920s and early 1930s for the Count of Vizela, Carlos Alberto Cabral. Designed by Charles Siclis and José Marques da Silva, with interior work involving French designers including Ruhlmann, it is a leading example of Art Deco in Portugal. The state acquired the property in 1986 and the building was restored for public use. The museum's collection concerns art from the 1960s to today, with Portuguese and international artists, and presents rotating exhibitions rather than a fixed chronological display; the curatorial approach is thematic and often monographic. Siza's white building has long galleries opening onto the park, and the site is notable for its dialogue between architecture and landscape. The grounds extend over about 18 hectares and include formal gardens, a lake, a rose garden, a farm, woodland and a treetop walk. The foundation also holds the Serralves Auditorium and runs education programmes, performances and the annual Serralves em Festa weekend. Conservation of the villa and gardens is ongoing, and the property is in good condition. Together the museum, villa and gardens give a view of 20th-century Portuguese design and contemporary art.