The artwork “Fragments of an Unfinished Encyclopedia” by Françoise Schein retraces an artistic journey spanning 26 years, materialized in a series of sculptures illustrating humanity’s great geographical and scientific discoveries. This ambitious project began in 1994, when Françoise Schein, in collaboration with artist Federica Matta, completed the Parque metro station in Lisbon. This station, a true underground cathedral, pays homage to Portugal’s great maritime discoveries and has since become an iconic city landmark and a must-see tourist attraction.

The following year, in 1995, Metropolitano de Lisboa commissioned Françoise Schein for a second project: an artistic pavilion named “Café Cartográfico”, intended to be installed above Parque station. This pavilion, designed in the shape of a ship’s bow, was meant to house 37 sculptures celebrating major scientific discoveries. However, internal challenges led to the suspension of the sculpture production in 1997, and the completed pieces remained stored in Paris for nearly 20 years.

In 2021, after a long period of inactivity, the project was revived with the inauguration of a new installation in the Encarnação metro station in Lisbon. Architect Alberto Barradas designed this pristine station and incorporated a dedicated structure to host 32 sculptures from the “Fragments of an Unfinished Encyclopedia” series. These sculptures found a new home, installed in the Encarnação (Incarnation) station, in what the artist calls a form of “Reincarnation.”

Françoise Schein and Thomas Régent devoted over a year to restoring each piece, meticulously cleaning, repainting, and modernizing their electrical systems to meet current standards. This careful work brought the sculptures back to life while preserving their original artistic integrity.

The monumental panel, measuring 12 meters long and 2.5 meters high, consists of sculptures made from steel, wood, glass, and found objects. These interconnected works explore a wide range of themes related to humanity’s great inventions and discoveries, from astronomy to biology, cartography, and philosophy.

The sculptures highlight key figures and moments in scientific and cultural history, including:

• The universe, time, the moon, and temporal cycles
• Ptolemy
• The Middle Ages and the representation of a flat world in T/O maps
• The Silk Road and the Crusades
• Sacred mountains and the invention of God
• Maritime discoveries
• Copernicus, Tycho Brahe, Kepler
• The art of looking
• Galileo and the telescope
• The understanding of the body in the Middle Ages as depicted in books
• Vesalius and Leonardo da Vinci as a network
• Intellectual salons
• Newton
• Linnaeus and plant classification
• Evolution according to Darwin and Stephen J. Gould
• Paper, printing, and translations
• The invention of memory
• Public memory: Marx
• Private memory: Freud
• The study of society: anthropology
• Modernity

The inauguration of this artwork on September 15, 2022, was a milestone for the artist, who emphasized the almost miraculous nature of completing this project after so many years. The Encarnação station, located on Rua General Silva Freire, Lisbon, is open daily from 6:30 AM to 1:00 AM.

ARTISTA
Françoise Schein

We would like to thank Mr. Daniel Boorstin, whose book The Discoverers inspired these works.

Under the direction of
Françoise Schein
Thomas Régent

2020-2021
Françoise Schein, artist and architect
Thomas Régent, architectural model maker
Lohana Schein, project manager
Daniel Boorstin, historian, Washington, USA

1995
Elaine Monchak, architect, NY, USA
Pascal Lavoué, artistic assistant
Rita Gomes Ferrão, artistic assistant
Maria João Ribeiro, graphic design assistant
Marc Mimram, engineering, Paris
FTL Happold, engineering, London

Metropolitano de Lisboa
Luis Almeida, Metropolitano de Lisboa