Museu Bordalo Pinheiro

Zé Povinho — the shuffling everyman with his hands in his pockets and his tongue out — may be the most recognisable figure in Portuguese visual culture. He was drawn into life by Rafael Bordalo Pinheiro, and his home is a museum in Lisbon’s Campo Grande, devoted to the artist, his son and the revolutionary world of 19th-century Portuguese caricature.

The artist and his museum

Rafael Bordalo Pinheiro (1846–1905) was caricaturist, illustrator, ceramicist and chronicler of his age, founder of satirical newspapers and creator of the Caldas da Rainha ceramics that carry his style to this day. The museum, opened on Campo Grande in 1915, grew from the collection of his friend Cruz Magalhães and now numbers around 13,200 objects: drawings, plates, tiles, paintings and a remarkable ceramics collection. The building itself was designed by the architect Álvaro Machado.

What to see

• The permanent collection of Bordalo’s drawings and caricatures
• Zé Povinho plates and figurines in ceramic
• Caldas da Rainha ceramics from the factory he founded
• The work of his son, Manuel Gustavo Bordalo Pinheiro
• Temporary exhibitions of illustration and satire

Practical information

The museum stands at Campo Grande 382, by the gardens and the Estádio José Alvalade end of the avenue. It is open from Tuesday to Sunday, 10.00–18.00, closed on Mondays and a handful of public holidays; there is a lift for visitors with reduced mobility.

Image credit: Museu Bordalo Pinheiro by Pedro Ribeiro Simoes — CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.