She is a Femme Fatale

She Is a Femme Fatale is a proposal dedicated exclusively to the work of female artists. It is based on a verse taken from the song Femme Fatale on the Velvet Underground’s mythical 1967 debut album The Velvet Underground & Nico, which was inspired by Andy Warhol’s muse, Edie Sedgwick.

This exhibition reveals a series of works and artists that are representative of a period running from the early 20th century to the present day. It includes some of the Berardo Collection’s recent acquisitions and evokes the transformations that took place in the late 1960s and early 1970s, when a large number of artists were investigating concepts rooted not only in significant social revolutions but also in the construction of subjectivity and artistic systems. Artists tackled themes such as identity, gender, sexuality, or politics, and were guided by a vision that aimed to transform the more complaisant readings of some history of art.

Structured in a way that resorts neither to chronological organisation nor historical perspective, She Is a Femme Fatale explores the intimist gallery of Floor -1 of the Museu Coleção Berardo in a succession of spaces conceived by exploring the idea of Home as a winding route.

In this space, which has been designed on a human scale, a chain of relations between various artists is established, facilitating multiple readings. The public will therefore have the opportunity to see Louise Bourgeois’s piece, Torso, Self-Portrait, 1963-64, which represents the body in a state of metamorphosis, in dialogue with Untitled (Vivienne Westwood), 1993, a photograph by Cindy Sherman revealed as a grotesque construction which uses the codes of mass-media(ted) society. In Hannah Villiger’s work, the naked body of the artist is the vehicle for deformed, almost abstract, visions which evoke sculpture, while Helena Almeida uses drawing to grant the observer a window into her creative process. Visitors can see Ana Mendieta’s film recordings of her performances, which are sacrificial in nature, as well as Aino Kannisto’s photographs, which reveal everyday scenes as meticulously arranged as a stage in a play. Continuing with photography, Francesca Woodman’s images make visible the unconscious and the surreal, while Adriana Varejão transforms her painting into a battlefield on which the observer can literally see the spoils.

Also on display are works by other artists, such as Rosângela Rennó, Margarida Correia, Shirin Neshat, Paula Rego, Pilar Albarracín, and Guerrilla Girls, among others. From Vera Mantero is presented a video recording of the play Olympia, 1993, which is based on Manet’s famous painting, and Curso de Silêncio, 2007, a film that establishes relations between the body and the literature of Maria Gabriela Llansol. Susanne Themlitz created a site-specific installation for this exhibition.

She Is a Femme Fatale includes works by over two dozen artists from countries such as Portugal, Spain, Brazil, the USA, Finland, Switzerland, France, Iran and Cuba, among others, and covers a diverse range of working media, including painting, sculpture, photography, drawing, film, video, performance, and contemporary dance.