This museum was pretty far away but that gave us a chance to see more of the Lisbon neighborhoods. We could have taken a metro ride but underground travel leaves much to be desired. This museum was very large, both in size and in scope. We saw brand new tile work, cutting edge multimedia works, old tile from the roman era to the beginning of Portuguese tile making to the golden age of Portuguese tile making. During the golden age, great artists were drawn to the medium due to its durability and the fact that the Portuguese were using improved glazing technology. Tile making now allowed for works that could take on a painting like quality. There were two different courtyards, a church in the center of the museum and a tiled steeple on the roof. So many different styles ands sizes of tile were everywhere we looked.
Pride in the surroundings
A huge walled cemetery Sao Joao
An everyday gate
Even the top of the walls get decorated
A church on every corner
We have arrived
A big place for a huge subject
The sign is an image of tiles
Bowls and spheres
Male and female restroom indicators
In the cafe there were food related tiles
Hanging meat
A random head
The first exhibit by the French artist O Gringo!
It was a stunner. Tile patterns on humans, photographed and then printed on tiles
Combining tiles with people
Made for some great art and followed the tradition of telling a story on tiles
Huge expanses of tiles, this one 8 ft by 4 ft
Tiles could decorate the ceiling as these demonstrated
Molds would be used to get an imprint and then different glazing techniques were developed
Some mythical beast
Monkeys and birds
So many colors
Another technique, illustrated here, uses a paper with holes in it, blotted with charcoal in a bag, then the outline of the design was filled in with the glaze materials. The finished tile is shown on the right
After the lion's meal only one arm remained
Cherub delivering coffee
A toe tile
The crazing on this tile from 1620
Shows hoe delicate they actually are
This shows how the tiles were attached to a plexiglass support that then attaches to the wall
Having a ball
The blue and yellow tiles were the most lively
Almost like sunflowers
Scary beasts in the water
Huge areas could be covered with these patterns
A colonial scene going up the stairs
Up the stairs and along the wall on both sides!
Serious door
The hunting room had scene after scene of dogs attacking lions, bears, deer and so on
But one panel had a cat!
Another huge piece
Close up, so much is revealed
Many mythical beasts
Fisher of Hearts. From the golden age
Where the artists would actually sign their work
Courtyard #1
Lots of arches and columns
The shadows of the columns
Aaaaa-choo
Let the sun shine in
This shows a jaguar hunt
Perhaps the sight of another jaguar in the mirror would cause the jaguar to make a ruckus. Thereby alerting the hunters to the presence of a jaguar
The tile wearing my hat!
He is wearing his bow tie on his nose
the following works are by the master Querubim Lapa. He is considered a master of glazing. This work was 4 feet square so I had to take detailed.
Here the cat is wearing a mouse mask
The fox is playing for the birds
Mother nature
This gecko somehow has a chameleon tongue
More masks
Three frogs are we, most ready for tea.
A three dimentionsl bird and flower
These tiles also had much texture
The "Safety Dance" We can dance if we want to...
Shoe Tile, don't bother me
Abstract
Lightning creatures or cats?
Elephant
Race time
What does the snail say to the crow/
Fruit Pie portrait in clay
the shadow knows
Tiles in QR code format
The building is towering
Inside was the church area
Tiles on the sign
To finish it off, this piece of tile was in the sidewalk outside of the museum
Heading home a new way!
So many neighborhoods
Big tile work
A tricky first step onto the sidewalk
Grand old buildings
Holy relic pizzas
Retainer wall!
Is this the equivalent of tagging a wall like with grafitti only here with tile? Find a open space and fill it.
Lamps
Tile overload
Not tile but very nice
