Roberto Bolaño, a writer from Chile, wrote a short story that inspired Berlinde De Bruyckere’s exhibition title, Atravessar uma ponte em chamas, which opened at the Museu de Arte Contemporânea/CCB in Lisbon, Portugal. A potent picture that alludes to the peril of transitioning from one side to the other, it also represents the trauma that accompanies any migration process, as well as the allure and terror of the other. The show is spectacular and featured at CCB until 10th March 2024.

Berlinde De Bruyckere has been exploring the universal themes of art, such as death, redemption, sex, pain, and memory, through her work in the disciplines of sculpture, drawing, collage, and installation. This exhibition invites contemplation on the relationship with the other, whether as transcendence, as the physicality of touch, or as personal projection, and is inspired by the angelic figure that acts as an intermediary. The artist examines the ambiguity and sensual power of these subjects in works from various stages of her career as they are displayed in the exhibition rooms.

To make this dialogue between historical times a reality, the Museu Nacional de Arte Antiga has kindly lent Lucas Cranach’s painting Salomé with the head of Saint John the Baptist, 1510, which is juxtaposed with the work Infinitum II, 2017–2019. Continuing this dialogue, the exhibition will also include a site in the Museu Nacional de Arte Antiga itself, where the work Liggende — Arcangelo I, 2023, will be installed in the room dedicated to Francisco de Zurbarán (1598–1664). This sculpture, representing a fallen angel (an entity that has passed from transcendence to immanence), presented in the context of a dialogue with the mysticism of Zurbarán’s painting (present in portraits that try to free themselves from earthly mundanity), once again realises the same ambiguous and back-and-forth circuit the exhibition proposes. Another important aspect of the work is its dimensions, which reproduce those of Vasco da Gama’s tomb at the Mosteiro dos Jerónimos in Lisbon.

The exhibition will also be accompanied by two performances by Portuguese dancer and actor Romeu Runa, who has collaborated with Berlinde De Bruyckere for many years. The performances Romeu,‘my deer’ and Sybille relate directly to the artist’s work and are the result of their close collaboration.

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