Oliva Art Center

The Oliva Art Center is run by the S. João da Madeira City Council, as part of an extensive plan to renovate part of the buildings of the former Oliva metallurgical plant and factory and convert them into a cultural project.
It is a place for contact, knowledge and interpretation of the visual arts of the 20th and 21st centuries and the only institution in the country to work regularly with contemporary art and art brut/outsider. Through its structured activity in exhibition projects, educational programs and collaborative initiatives, it seeks to make everyone’s relationship with the arts vital, accessible and participatory.

Modern and Contemporary Art and Raw Art/Outsider in one space.

The Oliva Art Center houses two private collections on long-term deposit.
The Norlinda and José Lima Modern and Contemporary Art Collection, which includes approximately 1,200 works of art by 250 Portuguese artists and about as many international artists.
The Arte Bruta/Outsider Treger/ Saint Silvestre Collection, which includes around 1,500 works by around 350 artists of different nationalities.
Both collections are the result of forty years of uninterrupted collecting and, although they are quite different in their orientation, they share a unique relevance on the national scene.
In addition to exhibitions based on the resident collections, the Oliva Art Center pays particular attention to the intersection of the visual arts with other creative fields (such as cinema, dance, design and architecture) and to projects that present new narratives, interpretations and contributions to the history of art. In this way, its exhibition program privileges projects that contribute to broadening the diversity of visual arts programming in Portugal.