Greetings!

I kind of got it into my head that it'd be interesting to visit Museu Serralves on our first afternoon in Porto. The reasoning being that it would be less crowded, unique modern installations, green park, lots of unusual photo opportunities.

I (and my group) don't really know much about contemporary art. But last year in Yerevan (Armenia) one of the most favorite things we did was visiting the Cascade which is a complex that provides you with a) great view of the city and b) some quirky modern art. The best thing is that you are taking a series of escalators up while looking at the art. To be honest, I am not sure we remember much of the art it was more the combination and such a unique approach that we enjoyed. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yerevan_Cascade (fyi, Armenia was amazing...please keep it in mind!)

Now, for Porto (we have 2 full days in the city... actually 1.5 days for sightseeing + .5 days for shopping , I thought it might be interesting to schedule a visit to the Museu Serralves after lunch. But, the reviews are kind of mixed. Also, it's about 20min (or more from the historic center) and the tickets are (if I am not mistaken) 18EUR...which seems kind of a steep.

I have told the ladies in my group that Porto (Portugal) is famous for contemporary and street art. We'll probably see some wall art in Porto (want to find that Rabbit in Vila Nova de Gaia) and Lisbon.

would Museu Serralves be a good addition to the program?

Thank you so much!

I went there bc we were staying not far away. The art was not my kind of thing, but it sounds like it might be yours, and it's a nicely presented museum with pleasant gardens.

Thank you nonconformist. How long did you stay at the museum? I keep trying to find out and understand is whether there always those objects that I've seen in photos. For example the large shoes, or the ring, or the gardening tool outside in the garden. Those pop up in photos, but I cannot figure out if they are a permanent collection or where there just for a period of time and won't be in September.
These kind of installations would be fun to see and good for photos )

I think they're permanent. I def remember the shovel, and it was a few years ago I visited. It's not a massive time sink.

minamax,
We've been to the Serralves Foundation, the museum and its extensive gardens, and while not overly impressed with the museum's permanent collection of contemporary art (we're not really contemporary art fans), we did like Pritzker prize winner, Alvaro Siza's architecture.

Our host drove us around Porto to see Siza's and others' designs of the acclaimed Porto School of Architecture, including Siza's swimming pools in Leça da Palmeira.
(We also dined there, a splurge, at the Casa da Cha de Boa Nova, his "Tea House", overlooking the pools, now with a Michelin star. We were staying in a B&B, now closed, designed by Souto de Moura, a friend of the owner, and we had an interest in seeing his other works in Portugal, such as Cascais' Casa das Histórias Paula Rego museum.)

I think what you and the ladies would enjoy most about Serralves are its gardens and the Art Deco pink house and the outdoor art around the park. But I don't know that you have the time for this in your full schedule, and the Serralves is in the Boavista neighborhood, as you know. We explored Boavista because we were staying nearby.

We were not impressedwith the art, but that was in 2006 and the collection may have changed. But we were impressed by the building and the Art Deco mansion that could also be visited.. From the picture you posted, it looks like the garden à la française was changed.

I've been checking more and it seems that those installations that would be fun to see and photograph well (I'm making a photo-book of our trip later, so that's importanta ) were there till June. At least the shoes, mask, and others from that exhibition. The current exhibition is soehting to do with filmmaker (someone famous that I've not heard about). the gardens themseves don't look remarkable (at least what i see in pictures). Kind of thinking that this is not something "un-missable" on our first day in Portugal.

Now trying to figure out how to constract our day without going to this museum.