Landscape - Charneca de Belas at sunset

Silva Porto created this painting after his return to Portugal. The memory of Barbizon, through Daubigny and Millet's lesson, was still clear. This piece, and another 28 paintings, presented at the "12th Promotora Exhibition", inaugurated naturalism in Portuguese painting. Landscape abandoned a scenographic or idealised composition to revel an unseen spontaneity, extrinsic to the categories of Beauty and the Sublime, served by natural light. This sunset was intentionally produced without using red in the sky. The luminous touches at the dull edges of the clouds creates an afternoon atmosphere that contrasts with the dense compact dark mass of earth, created with thick brushstrokes that drag the colours over each other.