Latest news and stories about visual arts in Portugal for expats and residents.
Chosen to direct the visual arts programming at Culturgest, Raphael Fonseca spoke with PÚBLICO about his aspirations and desires in a world as troubled as it is challenging.
José Santa-Bárbara, a visual artist, designer and member of the Portuguese Communist Party (PCP), passed away on Tuesday, April 28. Born in 1936 in Caldas da Rainha, he studied at the António Arroio School of Decorative Arts and later sculpture at the School of Fine Arts. The PCP noted his extensive career, which included public sculpture, painting, medal design, and industrial design—most notably his thirty-year tenure leading the design department at CP (Portuguese Railways), where he created the company's logo and designed locomotives that won national and European awards. He also contributed artistic interventions to several Lisbon Metro and railway stations and designed numerous album covers for José Afonso and other prominent musicians. The PCP highlighted his lifelong commitment to the party, his early resistance to fascism through the MUD Juvenil, and his consistent participation in party-organised cultural events.
To mark his 50-year career, which is celebrated in 2026, the artist has two exhibitions running in Lisbon, at Culturgest and at the Pavilhão Branco of the Municipal Galleries.
Portuguese visual artist Pedro Cabrita Reis will inaugurate an exhibition in Venice this May that revisits the Stations of the Cross, offering a 'personal vision' of the Passion of Christ through 14 unpublished paintings in dialogue with the history of European painting. It is an independent project titled 'XIV Steps', corresponding to the number of stations of the Passion.
The noise of the earthquakes shaking the planet silenced many people at the presentation of RedSkyFalls. Not even the Minister of Culture escaped. The world needs new chimeras, other sentinels, the artist points out.
Inspired by Burle Marx, visual artist Paula Paes Leme presents the exhibition 'Puro' at Leme Atelier in the Portuguese capital until June of this year.
From Brazil to Brussels, to Switzerland, to the US and to Portugal, it was only a little over two years ago that she recognised herself as a visual artist. She opens the doors of her home and studio in Cascais to Observador.
Funding streams have opened for creation in Music and Opera; Street Arts, Circus, Dance and Theatre; and for programming for cross‑disciplinary projects and visual arts. They were expected to have opened by the end of December.
The Assembly of the Republic today unanimously approved a motion of condolence tabled by the Socialist Party (PS) over the recent death of visual artist Guilherme Parente, describing him as a leading figure in Portuguese painting.
Portuguese sculptor Francisco Simões has died. Marcelo said the artist 'intertwined tradition and modernity in a harmonious way'.
