Fernando Pessoa and Alfredo Marceneiro [Fernando Pessoa and Alfredo Marceneiro]

In «Fernando Pessoa e Alfredo Marceneiro» [Fernando Pessoa and Alfredo Marceneiro], Júlio Pomar brings together two iconic figures of Portuguese culture based on widely reproduced photographic images. Fernando Pessoa appears facing forward, recognisable by his glasses, moustache, and hat, while Alfredo Marceneiro appears in profile, in a position inverted in relation to the photograph that served as the model. Over the acrylic base, Pomar adds pastel interventions: white lines, black scratches, and almost casual marks - like graffiti crossing and disrupting the image, particularly across Pessoa’s face.

This work belongs to a mature phase of Pomar’s practice, in which vibrant colours, free gestures, and superimpositions coexist with great naturalness. Patches of colour animate the faces and give them movement and vitality. The artificial juxtaposition of the two figures, with their differing scales and positions, introduces a subtle humour that evokes Pop culture. By bringing Pessoa and Marceneiro together, Pomar places the myth of learned poetry and the myth of popular fado into dialogue, reflecting ironically on the construction and consumption of Portuguese cultural identity.