Günter Grass “Encontros” in Porto until 6 Oct

Watercolors, engravings and sculptures

by Günter Grass in Porto until October 6.

“Encontros” (Meetings) exhibition is at Guerra Junqueiro House Museum until October 6. This traveling exhibition started in 2017 in Portimão, city where the artist had a house, and present watercolours, etchings and sculptures of the controversial Nobel Prize Günter Grass (1927-2015).

“Encontros” reveals a variety of Günter Grass works and the close relationship he had with Portugal.

Grass first travelled to Portugal in 1976 at the invitation of the Goethe-Institut and since then actively participated in Portuguese cultural life.

He was a close friend of Portuguese Nobel Prize for Literature Jose Saramago, that receive the prize one year early.

Since mid-1980s Grass found in Portugal the peace he had lost in Germany. This allowed him to focus and work hard on new texts, images and sculptures. In addition, sometimes he was simply enjoying the sun, the countryside and the culinary specialties of Portugal.

At the end of his life, he regretted not being able to travel to Portugal for medical reasons. Grass has written his last book, “Vonne Endlichkait” (“About Finitude”): “Ah, my lost Portugal, how much I miss its southwest coast.”

“Encontros”  is a jointly initiative of the Goethe-Institut Portugal, the Günter and Ute Grass Foundation, the Günter Grass-Haus, and the Guerra Junqueiro House Museum and the Porto City Hall.