Iberê Camargo Foundation
Álvaro Siza's white concrete gallery above the Guaíba, holding the archive of the painter Iberê Camargo.
The foundation was set up in 1995 to look after the estate of Iberê Camargo (1914-1994), the Rio Grande do Sul painter and printmaker known for his dense, thickly worked canvases of bobbins, cyclists and figures in motion. Its collection holds several thousand of his paintings, drawings, prints and studio objects, together with his library and correspondence, and is shown in rotation alongside temporary exhibitions of Brazilian and international art. The foundation also runs a print workshop, a research centre and an education programme.
The building, opened in May 2008, was the Portuguese architect Álvaro Siza Vieira's first work in the Americas and won him the Golden Lion at the 2002 Venice Architecture Biennale. A compact white concrete block is cut into the hillside beside the Guaíba, with galleries arranged around a tall top-lit atrium; visitors descend through enclosed ramps that project from the facade as sculpted tubes, catching glimpses of the water. The site also includes an auditorium, a library and a café.
Highlights
- Álvaro Siza's first building in the Americas, opened in 2008
- Sculptural external ramps linking the galleries
- Thousands of works by Iberê Camargo shown in rotation
- Print workshop and research centre on site
