Sabath - Traditional Dance

António Pedro, a multiform character from the Portuguese cultural scene, was the main inciter of the "Dimensionismo" movement which claimed the integrative expansion of the arts. Together with the automatic literary experiences and, especially the presentation of painting created within the Parisian atmosphere, this movement introduced a surrealist poetics to art. Sabbat – Dança de Roda illustrates this new imagery from a "second generation" of Portuguese modern artists. This period was restricted by an imagination which backed from classical equilibrium in composition and claimed the values of anti-narrative and an anti-anecdotal imaginary. In this painting, four individual heads with haloes imbricate in a dynamic vortice, their arms and breasts interlace, introducing an unprecedented erotic dimension to Portuguese painting.