Far from Sight

Manuel Teixeira Gomes (1860–1941) spent time in Lisbon and took up residence in a long-since demolished house in Gibalta, a place overlooking the mouth of the River Tagus, known today as Alto da Boa Viagem (Caxias, municipality of Oeiras). Yet, the capital's memory of the seventh president of the Republic is practically nil, confined to a street in Chelas and an art collection scattered around various cultural institutions. 

This biographical exhibition, which opens on the 100th anniversary of Teixeira Gomes' inauguration as President of the Republic, emphasises his collecting and long self-exile. 

Teixeira Gomes was an important cultural figure. When he was elected President of the Republic, he had already published literary work and had a diplomatic career that had helped to give credibility to and consolidate the Republican regime in London, Portugal's main ally at the time.

In 1925, disillusioned with the direction of the Republic, he left office and the country, embarking on a peripatetic exile that took him to Bougie (the French name for the present-day Algerian city of Béjaïa). He remained there for the last decade of his life. While living at the Hotel L'Étoile, he resumed writing, published books and articles, corresponded with numerous friends, and managed his businesses and donations from afar. 

Lisbon Municipal Council was one of the organisations to which the former president bequeathed part of his exquisite and varied art collection. While he intended to create a museum of artistic furniture, the project never materialised, and the objects donated at the time became part of the current Museum of Lisbon collection. 

As well as works from the Museum of Lisbon's collection, the exhibition includes pieces from the National Museum of Contemporary Art, the Machado de Castro National Museum, the Museum of the Presidency of the Republic, and the Museum of the Orient. The contents are complemented by other objects, documents and first editions from the Casa Pia Atlético Clube, the National Library of Portugal, and the Lisbon Municipal Libraries.