...porto pottery and young local art

TO COLLECT

We collect because we are interested in the world, we are interested in the history of man on earth and his desires expressed in Art.

There are two collections housed by Massarelos House, one of contemporary art and another of traditional crafts. This second focusses on the earthenware produced in the city of Porto and in the neighbouring Gaia, since the eighteenth century, in which the first factory opened its doors in the vicinity of our house until the extinction of the last factory in the second half of the twentieth century. The collection is made up of more than 130 pieces from eleven different factories, they tell us about aesthetic tastes, commercial interests, external influences and a way of living of the people of the city.

The contemporary art collection brings together twenty-five mostly Portuguese artists and forty-one works that reflect their vital concerns, the relationship with nature, human relationships and the spatial perception of our environment.

We intend with both collections to motivate our guests in their coexistence with them, in a way not only aesthetic but intellectual, which also contributes to a better knowledge of the city and its inhabitants.