Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian – The great patron
In 2009 the Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian (Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation) invested 110 million Euros in patronage. For the last fifty years, the Foundation has been making a difference in the cultural, scientific, educational and welfare sectors in Portugal. Notwithstanding this, the largest national foundation has a vocation encompassing “all humanity”.
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Mrs. Harrison and Cecil are being lulled by the gentle movements of their boat on the calm waters of the Thames. The shade of a willow tree provides relief from the heat on this summer’s day. The delicate leafy branches curve down as though they are lovingly embracing the mother and son. You could say that the splendorous light that emanates from John Singer Sargent’s painting opens up new horizons, and as such, is a metaphor for the Foundation which is its guardian.
Located in the heart of Lisbon, the Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian is a landmark that has become synonymous with modernity, culture, science, education and charity. The last four areas (as decreed by the Foundation’s statutes) are pillars of a strategy that is very much centred on present day-life and issues.
“What I’m looking for with this institution, besides respecting its origins, is more agility and more attention to the signs of the times”, says Emílio Rui Vilar, the Foundation’s president since 2001, as he gazes at the branches of the willow tree in Sargent’s painting.
The environment, intercultural dialogue and migration have been core areas for the Foundation since its creation, and they have been growing in importance in recent times. “Our concern regarding contemporary problems is to intervene in areas which, fundamentally, are related to science and education, but are also linked with human development, and even creation and creativity. This is because nowadays economies attach great importance to innovation as an indicator of competitiveness”.
In fulfillment of its vast mission to develop art, science and education, as well as integration and development, each year the Foundation promotes and finances research, exhibitions, concerts, publications, studies, pedagogical activities, grants, awards, scholarships, seminars, conferences and dozens of other activities.
John Singer Sargent’s rapid brushwork and his impressionist treatment of light can be likened to the creative but firm management style of the Foundation. As he contemplates the painting he so admires (it is on display near the exit of the Gulbenkian Museum), Emílio Rui Vilar continues discretely: “Foundations have a special duty to try to anticipate the future. Therefore, I think the Gulbenkian Foundation has an important responsibility to pay attention to the profound changes that are taking place in the world. They indicate that civil society needs to come up with answers to problems, given that we can’t expect solutions to come from the state”.
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This man of culture is a humanist with a proven background in public management, namely as president of Caixa Geral de Depósitos, the largest national bank. He is now putting his vast experience to use as he manages Portugal’s largest private foundation. “Foundations have a contribution to make, both in terms of their individual responsibility and their collective responsibility as institutions of civil society. That’s because they are independent, more focused on the medium term and aren’t subject to market or political cycles. Therefore, they are better suited for projects requiring continuity, and which directly affect people”.
The founder
The Impressionist painting by John Singer Sargent, which dates back to the last quarter of the 19th Century, is one of the Calouste Gulbenkian Museum’s more than six thousand pieces. The museum was built to house the art collection of the great Armenian financier, Calouste Sarkis Gulbenkian, and was inaugurated on 2 October 1969.
The eclecticism and refinement of the collection, and the perseverance it took to build up, reflect the character and background of the cultured and wealthy Armenian. He grew up in Istanbul, and from this gateway to the east, went on to the UK and later to Paris, where he refined his tastes and knowledge of the arts and the international market.
The bust of Pharaoh Sesostris III is part of a statue of a complete body produced 4000 years ago. It is sculpted from obsidian, volcanic glass of great hardness and fragility (very difficult to carve). It is an Ancient Egyptian masterpiece and one of Emílio Rui Vilar’s favourite pieces. “The quality of the sculpture and the expression are remarkable, especially if you compare it to the static nature of this bas-relief”, he says, pointing to the neighbouring work: a study for the portrait of a Pharaoh in fine limestone (dated 305-200 BC).
“The bust of Sesóstris reveals the Pharaoh’s character and strong personality”. And, much in the same way, the Foundation reveals the character of its founder. “Mr. Gulbenkian was a man of the world, who as a result of his origins, his culture and his actions, created a bridge between Eastern and Western culture”.
Calouste Sarkis Gulbenkian was born in 1869 in Scutari, Istanbul. His renowned Armenian family could trace its origins back to the 4th Century and its ancestors included the Princes of Rechduni. The family settled in Caesarea, Cappadocia (one of the cradles of Eastern Christianity) and acquired the Byzantine noble title Vart Badrik, which was changed to its Turkish form, Gulbenkian, when the Ottomans took power in the 16th Century. Generation after generation, the family were patrons of the arts and dedicated to charity work, always showing great generosity to the Armenian communities.
After completing his schooling in Calcedonia, the young Calouste Sarkis Gulbenkian took a degree in Engineering and Applied Science at Kings College, London. He graduated in 1889 aged only nineteen.
Gulbenkian’s trip to Baku (the current capital of Armenia) at the age of 20, as well as several articles he wrote about oil, attracted the attention of the Ottoman government, which appointed him to draw up reports about the Empire’s resources. It was the beginning of a highly successful career in the world of oil and high finance, which included important diplomatic responsibilities.
The Foundation
Emílio Rui Vilar now stops in front of the “Português” (“The Portuguese”). “Mr. Gulbenkian had a profound knowledge of Oriental carpets”, he says. This (most likely) Persian carpet dates from the 17th Century and is made of wool and cotton. It is decorated with concentric lozenges, flowers, arabesques and palmettes. It owes its name to the maritime scenes it depicts, with one vessel in particular standing out, because it shows people wearing European clothing. This probably reflects the travels of the Portuguese to the East.
In 1942 Calouste Sarkis Gulbenkian sought refuge in a peaceful and sleepy Portugal, away from the turmoil in the rest of Europe, which was being devastated by the war. The hospitality and tranquility he encountered in Lisbon, as well as the tax system and lack of interference by the media, made him change his plans to emigrate to the USA.
Gulbenkian died on 20 July 1955 at the age of 86. In his will, drafted two years earlier, he had stated his wish for the creation of an international foundation based in Lisbon and bearing his name. The Foundation building was of exceptional quality and constructed in a modern style. It was surrounded by a luxuriant garden, which is considered an oasis by all those who visit.
The museum is only one part of a vast whole, which includes the Centro de Arte Moderna, (Modern Art Centre) the Biblioteca de Arte (the Art Library), The Gulbenkian Orchestra and Choir, as well as a park in the middle of the city. The Instituto Gulbenkian da Ciência (Gulbenkian Institute of Science), ranked among the top ten European scientific research centres, is located in Oeiras, on the outskirts of Lisbon.
“Mr Gulbenkian certainly envisaged the Foundation as being for the whole of humanity, and therefore a large part of the work we do is abroad, in London, and in Paris among the Armenian communities. We also work in developing countries and have international partnerships with other foundations in areas that go from humanitarian aid to global health issues”, highlights Rui Vilar.
The Centre Culturel Calouste Gulbenkian in Paris, the Service for Armenian Communities and the UK Branch are the focus of the Foundation’s activities abroad and enable it to participate in international aspects of contemporary themes.
The patrimony
As he looks at Portrait of a Young Woman (Domenico Ghirlandaio, Florence, 1485), Emílio Rui Vilar explains that the Foundation’s capital comes from Sarkis Calouste Gulbenkian’s initial legacy and from the reserves that the Foundation has been building up over the years. “There has been an ongoing increase in the value of the patrimony”, he underlines. According to the president’s estimates, in real terms, the Foundation’s patrimony is today worth three times more than it was at the beginning.
The Foundation’s liquid assets are currently worth 2,8 million Euros, with two thirds being made up of financial investments and a third being investments in the oil and gas sectors.
In 2009 the Foundation’s fulfillment of its duty as patron in the different areas it is involved in cost it 110 million Euros. The Arts get the biggest slice of the budget (38%) and education comes second (27%). They are followed by science (20%) and charity (15%).
Domenico Ghirlandaio painted his beautiful portrait at the end of the 15th Century. It was a time in which art was being influenced by humanist ideals and increasing numbers of the middle class were having their portraits painted. Ghirlandaio’s portrait reveals a desire to depict the truth. In the same way the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation is like a light making a difference in the scientific, educational, cultural and welfare panorama in a European country looking out to the Atlantic and Africa.
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by Almerinda Romeira
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