The Most Famous
PAINTERS from Portugal
Top 8
The following people are considered by Pantheon to be the most legendary Portuguese Painters of all time. This list of famous Portuguese Painters is sorted by HPI (Historical Popularity Index), a metric that aggregates information on a biography’s online popularity.
1. Maria Helena Vieira da Silva (1908 - 1992)
With an HPI of 58.38, Maria Helena Vieira da Silva is the most famous Portuguese Painter. Her biography has been translated into 32 different languages on wikipedia.
Maria Helena Vieira da Silva (13 June 1908 – 6 March 1992) was a Portuguese abstract painter. She was considered a leading member of the European abstract expressionism movement known as Art Informel. Her works feature complex interiors and city views using lines that explore space and perspective. She also worked in tapestry and stained glass.
2. Paula Rego (1935 - 2022)
With an HPI of 56.92, Paula Rego is the 2nd most famous Portuguese Painter. Her biography has been translated into 28 different languages.
Dame Maria Paula Figueiroa Rego (Portuguese: [ˈpawlɐ ˈʁeɣu]: 26 January 1935 – 8 June 2022) was a Portuguese visual artist, widely considered the pre-eminent woman artist of the late 20th and early 21st century, known particularly for her paintings and prints based on storybooks. Rego's style evolved from abstract towards representational, and she favoured pastels over oils for much of her career. Her work often reflects feminism, coloured by folk-themes from her native Portugal. Rego studied at the Slade School of Fine Art and was an exhibiting member of The London Group, along with David Hockney and Frank Auerbach. In 1989 she became the second artist-in-residence, after the scheme re-started, at the National Gallery in London, after Jock McFadyen, who was the first in 1981. She lived and worked in London.
3. Nuno Gonçalves (1500 - 1450)
With an HPI of 55.72, Nuno Gonçalves is the 3rd most famous Portuguese Painter. His biography has been translated into 22 different languages.
Nuno Gonçalves (c. 1425 – c. 1491, fl. 1450–71) was a Portuguese artist whose work initiated the Portuguese Renaissance in painting. He was court painter for Afonso V of Portugal from 1450 to 1471, and in 1471 he was appointed the official painter for the city of Lisbon. His surviving masterpiece is the polyptych known as the Saint Vincent Panels.
4. Amadeo de Souza Cardoso (1887 - 1918)
With an HPI of 52.40, Amadeo de Souza Cardoso is the 4th most famous Portuguese Painter. His biography has been translated into 23 different languages.
Amadeo de Souza-Cardoso (14 November 1887 – 25 October 1918) was a Portuguese painter. Belonging to the first generation of Portuguese modernist painters, Amadeo de Souza-Cardoso stands out among all of them for the exceptional quality of his work and for the dialogue he established with the historical avant-gardes of the early 20th century. "The artist developed, between Paris and Manhufe, the most serious possibility of modern art in Portugal in an international dialogue, intense but little known, with the artists of his time". His painting is articulated with open movements such as Cubism, Futurism or Expressionism, reaching in many moments - and in a sustained way in the production of recent years - a level comparable in everything to the cutting-edge production of his contemporary international art. Death at the age of 30 will dictate the abrupt end of a fully mature pictorial work and a promising international career but still in the process of affirmation. Amadeo would be forgotten a long time ago, inside and, above all, outside Portugal: "The silence that for many years covered the interpretive visibility of his work with a thick blanket […], and that was also the silence of Portugal as a country, not allowed the international historical update of the artist "; and "Amadeo de Souza-Cardoso just started his path of historiographic recognition".
5. Nadir Afonso (1920 - 2013)
With an HPI of 50.15, Nadir Afonso is the 5th most famous Portuguese Painter. His biography has been translated into 18 different languages.
Nadir Afonso, GOSE (4 December 1920 – 11 December 2013) was a Portuguese geometric abstractionist painter. Formally trained in architecture, which he practiced early in his career with Le Corbusier and Oscar Niemeyer, Nadir Afonso later studied painting in Paris and became one of the pioneers of Kinetic art, working alongside Victor Vasarely, Fernand Léger, Auguste Herbin, and André Bloc. As a theorist of his own geometry-based aesthetics, published in several books, Nadir Afonso defended the idea that art is purely objective and ruled by laws that treat art not as an act of imagination but of observation, perception, and form manipulation. Nadir Afonso achieved international recognition early in his career and many of his works are in museums. His most famous works are the Cities series, which depict places all around the world. He was known to have painted into his later years and died on 11 December 2013 at a hospital in Cascais. During his life he achieved great honors, representing his country at the finest level.
6. José Malhoa (1855 - 1933)
With an HPI of 50.07, José Malhoa is the 6th most famous Portuguese Painter. His biography has been translated into 17 different languages.
José Vital Branco Malhoa, known simply as José Malhoa (28 April 1855 - 26 October 1933) was a Portuguese painter.
7. Columbano Bordalo Pinheiro (1857 - 1929)
With an HPI of 47.87, Columbano Bordalo Pinheiro is the 7th most famous Portuguese Painter. His biography has been translated into 16 different languages.
Columbano Bordalo Pinheiro (Almada, 21 November 1857 – Lisbon, 6 November 1929), who is usually referred to as Columbano, was a Portuguese Realist painter. Usually considered the greatest Portuguese painter of the 19th century, he has been compared to the likes of Wilhelm Leibl and John Singer Sargent.
8. Helena Almeida (1934 - 2018)
With an HPI of 47.52, Helena Almeida is the 8th most famous Portuguese Painter. Her biography has been translated into 16 different languages.
Helena Almeida GOIH (11 April 1934 – 25 September 2018) was a Portuguese artist known for her work in photography, performance art, body art, painting and drawing. She represented Portugal at the Venice Biennale in 1982 and 2005 and had a solo exhibition at the Art Institute of Chicago in 2017.
People
Pantheon has 8 people classified as Portuguese painters born between 1500 and 1935. Of these 8, none of them are still alive today. The most famous deceased Portuguese painters include Maria Helena Vieira da Silva, Paula Rego, and Nuno Gonçalves. As of April 2024, 1 new Portuguese painters have been added to Pantheon including Helena Almeida.
Deceased Portuguese Painters
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Maria Helena Vieira da Silva
1908 - 1992
HPI: 58.38
Paula Rego
1935 - 2022
HPI: 56.92
Nuno Gonçalves
1500 - 1450
HPI: 55.72
Amadeo de Souza Cardoso
1887 - 1918
HPI: 52.40
Nadir Afonso
1920 - 2013
HPI: 50.15
José Malhoa
1855 - 1933
HPI: 50.07
Columbano Bordalo Pinheiro
1857 - 1929
HPI: 47.87
Helena Almeida
1934 - 2018
HPI: 47.52
Newly Added Portuguese Painters (2024)
Go to all RankingsOverlapping Lives
Which Painters were alive at the same time? This visualization shows the lifespans of the 7 most globally memorable Painters since 1700.
