Vexation of Spirit — The Duerckheim Collection x Serralves is the title of the exhibition dedicated to the first presentation at Serralves of the contemporary art collection assembled by the collector Count Duerckheim and recently entrusted to the Foundation. Assembled over four decades, the collection includes works by some of the most important artists of the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries.

Deeply rooted in a reflection on history and war as a human and social disaster, the Duerckheim Collection transcends art as a mere aesthetic medium, serving as a warning of human responsibility in the face of historical atrocities.

The book accompanying the exhibition includes a reflection by the collector, Christian Duerckheim, and contributions from Eugénie von Haniel, Keeper of the collection; Augusto Santos Silva, professor and former President of the Assembly of the Republic; Roderick Mengham, professor, author, curator and editor; Tim Marlow, author, broadcaster and art historian, currently executive director of the Design Museum in London; an essay by Marta Moreira de Almeida, curator of the exhibition; and an afterword by Philippe Vergne, director of the Serralves Museum of Contemporary Art.