The Azulejo in Portugal. An identitary art. A world heritage. 

Islamic culture was the first great reference for azulejos in Portugal, which lived on in future applications through the aesthetic taste conveying the horror vacui or "fear of the empty".

The panel known as Nossa Senhora da Vida (Our Lady of Life) is one of the most important pieces in the collection of the National Azulejo Museum and one of the key pieces of 16th century Portuguese production. It was originally applied in the Church of Santo André in Lisbon which was partially destroyed by the 1755.

The panel is painted in "trompe l’oeil", employs a wide range of tones, and is considered one of the richest to be found in azulejo production of the time.

It simulates a three-part altarpiece composition painted on a surface of 1.498 azulejos, presenting in the centre a painting with the Adoration of the Shepherds. It attempts to imitate a painted board with a fine giltwood carved frame.

Four columns flank the two niches containing images of the Evangelists Saint John and Saint Luke, depicted as sculptures.

Observing this panel one can understand one of the identity aspects of Portuguese azulejos, which is how they are directly related to the space where they were applied.

The fact is that the space, currently empty, in the centre of the panel corresponded in the Church of Santo André to a window. As the light came in through that window it would have symbolically underlined the route taken by the Dove of the Holy Spirit to reach Mary.

This concept of associating architecture to the message intended to be conveyed is one of the central aspects of Portuguese production, one that sets it apart from azulejo production elsewhere.

This panel’s catechist function, with the powerful expression conveyed by the composition’s monumentality and setting, is also paradigmatic of Portuguese azulejos as an art intended to integrally cover and have the capacity to transform architectural structures.

One of the characteristics that then stood out, although it had its roots in the previous century, was how it was applied as a structuring element of architecture, throughout what were often monumental revetments, with pattern azulejos performing a key role.
The Church was the main entity responsible for commissioning repeat azulejos, an extremely effective option for the often total revetment of the walls in its churches.
The multiplicity of solutions and proposals in the Portuguese pattern tiles of this period has no parallel in other European productions.

The patterns were structured using repetition modules of 2x2, 4x4, 6x6 and 12x12 azulejos – although there are a few very rare examples made up of an odd number – forming tapetes or carpets framed by borders or bars, very often with added friezes.

At this time, azulejos were polychrome, using the colours blue, green and yellow, although patterns were also produced of blue on a white background.

This is one of the most fascinating aspects of the creative process of Portuguese ceramic painters: their capacity to invent and interpret themes and decorative motifs from various origins, a fusion of influences that led to the creation of a unique language.

Note also the existence of patterns that are impossible to group together as they are rare or even unique, with strongly dynamic rhythms, some even confusingly so, inspired on fabrics, leather and metalwork. As a whole they attest most eloquently to the creativity of Portuguese 17th century potteries.

Figurative azulejos in the 17th century are determined by commissions. The Church and the nobility were the two social groups that commissioned azulejos at this time, using figuration to convey messages, whilst not neglecting the decorative value of the compositions.

Figurative azulejos with profane themes were for the most part commissioned by the nobility, a group that played a decisive role in the restoration of national independence from the Spanish crown in 1640.

Compositions were directly inspired by European engravings interpreted in a more or less naïf form by untrained painters.

In this hunting scene, which was quite accurately copied from the original engraving, various kinds of traps were used: like this one with a mirror, which appears to be successful in capturing the female.

But there is an alteration to the source of inspiration. The European soldiers were replaced by indigenous people crowned with feathers likes the Indians in Brazil.

In addition to a decorative function, some panels had a symbolic meaning that was only obvious to certain viewers.

Among the representations with different levels of reading were the altar frontals inspired on the so-called panos da Índia, or Indian cloths - eloquent testimonies of Portuguese azulejos as a place of the meeting of cultures, in this case with the peoples encountered during the overseas expansion.

We should bear in mind that in all the profane spaces for which azulejos were commissioned, they reflect the taste of the proprietors, with the dual function of decorating architectural spaces and spreading messages of social and political affirmation.

This is one of the most enigmatic azulejo panels in the collection of the National Azulejo Museum. A chicken is conveyed in a coach driven by a monkey, behind two elephants, giving the scene an added sense of exoticism.

Moving in the opposite direction is a triumphant cortege of monkeys playing a variety of musical instruments.

The monkey, which is an animal that since ancient times in the west has been linked to satire, might help us read this type of panel in the context of the War of Restoration (1640-1668), as a criticism of the enemy or the supporters of the defeated side.

During what became known as the Cycle of the Masters (1690-1725), the workshops tried to satisfy a more demanding clientele by producing figurative compositions characterized by a greater freedom in the use of engravings and by the creativity shown in adapting the panels to the areas to be clad.

The azulejo painter, then, acquired the statute of an artist and often signed his panels.

Having raised the number of commissions made in the second half of the 17th century, the nobility was largely responsible for the production of azulejos with profane themes to decorate palatial quarters, many of them representing warrior, hunting and mythological scenes.

The so-called "invitation figures" were used more or less continuously between the second quarter of the 18th century and the first quarter of the 19th century. They are life-size representations of characters placed at points of egress into buildings, and are an original creation of Portuguese azulejo-making.

Following the earthquake that destroyed Lisbon in 1755, pattern azulejos were used for revetment of the interior of new buildings during the reconstruction. Following new typologies, these azulejos were considered an effective and low-cost solution.

Today they are called "pombalinos" due to the Marquis of Pombal (b.1699-d.1782), who was responsible for the rebuilding works in the Portuguese capital.

Large quantities of ornamental ashlars were produced, which were very popular with and widely used by the middle-class.

The collection at the National Azulejo Museum consisting of seven panels with captions alluding to the História do Chapeleiro António Joaquim Carneiro [The Story of António Joaquim Carneiro the Hatter] is paradigmatic of this new type of commission. These panels recount the tale of the upward social mobility of a poor boy whose hard work made him a wealthy burgher.

...like purely abstract or geometric discourses...

...figurative elements...

...signs or calligraphic gestures...

...and purely chromatic elements.

The association of this centuries-old art with modernity and the present time promoted the integration of azulejos in what now constitutes the image of the current world, the transport network and especially the Underground.

As in the past, the azulejo incessantly seeks new challenges and has already been integrated in some of the typical languages of the contemporary world.

From the pixelated computer images (like the Azulejos do Oceanário de Lisboa, [Azulejos at Lisbon Oceanarium], by Ivan Chermayeff, 1998) to the subversion of the graffiti discourse, passing through the fairy-like exuberance of cartoons or the refinement of the images of publicity or design, it shows an extraordinary capacity to adapt and reinvent, which would be hard to match in another form of artistic expression.