This month we headed back to the National Museum of Contemporary Art in Chiado, returning to the sunny garden for some delicious breakfast. We were surrounded by the beautiful blue paintings of one of the day’s speakers, Nelson Ferreira (the colour would gain more significance as the event went on). The atmosphere was relaxed but curious, with plenty of new connections being made over coffee.

Everyone went downstairs to the auditorium for the talks - on this occasion we were lucky enough to have two great speakers lined up. Pauline Foessel was the first, describing her interpretation of September’s theme ‘Depth’ in relation to her work.

As founder and director of Artpool, Pauline has successfully connected thousands of artists and curators. She told us about the rich and nomadic history of her career, spanning business school in her native France, her first connections with gallerists and how she moved to Shanghai and ended up in Portugal (the latter initially in collaboration with the artist VHILS). 

Pauline is passionate about using technology in order to help finance artists, and uses NFTs in her mission. As a startup founder she told us she struggles to incorporate depth in the process, but it can be found in her interactions with artists, curators, festivals and more. She left us with the assertion that when you really believe in something, you can find a way. In Pauline’s case, this means discovering exciting new digital revenue streams for the art world.

Nelson Ferreira is a visual artist and designer who imparted his wisdom on the depth of colour. He started with an introduction to the science of how humans perceive colour, and how it doesn’t exist outside of the human and animal experience. And yet, he pointed out, empires have risen and fallen, wars have been fought and love stories have played out in awe of this visual spectrum. He told us some fascinating stories involving the history of colour.

An entertaining speaker, he kept the audience involved throughout his various anecdotes. He lamented the “fake colours” and pigments which were dangerous in their application or created in stomach-churning ways.

Eventually he arrived at what he described as the only colours which have depth: purple and blue. This involved tales of Caesar and Cleopatra, the alchemy of glaziers, Boudica, the controversial history of indigo, puritans and the mines of Lapis Lazuli. And, lest we forget, a time when the UK commissioned the city of Newcastle to provide its citizens’ urine for the production of a desirable blue pigment.

 After all the laughs and learning, Nelson left us with something to mull over: “What you see a lot in the symbology of colours, is that colours do not exist.” We returned to the garden for another round of coffee and chats, buzzing with the excitement of the talks.

Text by Alexis Somerville

Photos by Anastasia Panina

Photos by Evelina Cassari