The exhibition pencil for painting grey days – Works from the EDP Foundation Art Collection brings together works by 21 Portuguese artists. The title is based on a work by Carlos Nogueira, dated 1973, which includes a small card with the following typed phrase:

WHEN YOU GAVE ME A COLOURED PENCIL – RED –

WHICH WROTE IN PINK

A PENCIL FOR PAINTING GREY DAYS

It comprises six rooms, four of which are dedicated to as many artists, featuring exclusively works by Carlos Nogueira, Maria José Oliveira, Tomás Colaço and Luísa Correia Pereira. In the remaining two, there are works by Ana Pérez-Quiroga, Ângelo de Sousa, Eduardo Batarda, Eduardo Gageiro, Helena Almeida, Jorge Martins, Jorge Pinheiro, José Loureiro, Luisa Cunha, Manuela Marques, Maria Beatriz, Maria Pia Oliveira, Pedro Gomes, René Bertholo, Rita Magalhães, Rodrigo Oliveira and Tiago Batista. These works share a common idea of generosity, ‘capable of transforming moments and sometimes even days,’ says curator Margarida Almeida Chantre.

The EDP Foundation Art Collection was launched in 2000 with the aim of covering several generations of contemporary Portuguese artists, as well as various areas and disciplines of artistic creation. It currently comprises around 2,540 works by more than 345 artists. Its chronological starting point was the 1960s, a period marked by artistic ruptures which also symbolically corresponds to the date of the creation of the Companhia Portuguesa de Eletricidade, the predecessor of the EDP group.

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