Lisbon's Maritime Stations and Race in Estado Novo Art
Almada Negreiros's murals offer a subtle reversal of the typical racial dynamics depicted in art under Portugal's dictatorship.
José de Almada Negreiros was born in São Tomé and Príncipe in 1893 to a Portuguese father and a Saõ Toméan mother who was herself half Angolan.
At the time, Portugal still possessed an extensive colonial empire around the world; the islands of his birth would not win their independence until 1975.
Model ship at the 1934 Portuguese Colonial Exhibition in Porto (1934) by Domingos AlvãoWorld Monuments Fund
The celebration of Portugal’s seafaring history–and the colonial possessions it brought–was a major theme in art during the Estado Novo, from monumental paintings to postage stamps.
Palácio de São Bento
Executed between 1944-5, this series of murals in the Noble Hall of Portugal's parliament building depicts various scenes related to Portuguese colonialism in India, Africa, and Brazil.
Padrão dos Descobrimentos by Estúdio Horácio NovaisWorld Monuments Fund
The Monument to the Discoveries, unveiled in Lisbon in 1940, paid tribute to Prince Henry the Navigator, Vasco da Gama, Pedro Cabral, and others whose voyages and patronage laid the groundwork for Portugal's colonial holdings abroad.
Portuguese World Exhibition at night (1940) by Mário NovaisWorld Monuments Fund
The Monument to the Discoveries was created as part of the Portuguese World Exhibition, for which two marine stations at Lisbon's port were originally supposed to have been built. Almada Negreiros received the commission to decorate the stations' walls with a series of murals.
Both politically and aesthetically, Almada Negreiros diverged from the mainstream. A friend of Fernando Pessoa, he published his work in the influential avant-garde magazine Orpheu and embraced modernism in both his writing and his visual art. He was particularly influenced by Futurism and Cubism, having spent several years in Paris.
While Almada Negreiros’s work rarely dealt with the topic of race directly, he helped organize Portugal’s first Black Art Week in 1946 in collaboration with friend and fellow artist Ernesto de Sousa. The exhibition put sculptures from Benin in dialogue with Picasso, Modigliani, and others, including Almada Negreiros himself.
Sunday Walk by the Tagus (1948) by José de Almada NegreirosWorld Monuments Fund
In his murals for the maritime stations, we see a multicultural view of contemporary Portugal.
Almada Negreiros's depictions of Black female dockworkers is notable for the direct, confident manner with which his subjects return the viewer's gaze.
Departure of Steamship with Emigrants (1948) by José de Almada NegreirosWorld Monuments Fund
Almada Negreiros also chose to focus on emigration at a time when a growing number of Portuguese people were leaving their homeland, especially for Portugal’s former colony of Brazil.
Steamship with Emigrants (1943-4) by José de Almada NegreirosWorld Monuments Fund
In these images, Portugal is imagined as a point of departure for those seeking a better life elsewhere, a subtle reversal of the typical colonial messaging of the time.
View of the murals at Alcântara Station (2022) by Fernanda BrandaoWorld Monuments Fund
In 2022, the maritime stations were placed on World Monuments Fund's Watch. The ongoing conservation efforts supported by the organization will breathe new life into these important artworks and help us better understand their complex history.
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Gil, Milene, Mafalda Costa, Mila Cvetkovic, Carlo Bottaini, Ana Margarida Cardoso, Ana Manhita, Cristina Barrocas Dias, and António Candeias. "Unveiling the Mural Painting Art of Almada Negreiros at the Maritime Stations of Alcântara (Lisbon): Diagnosis Research of Paint Layers as a Guide for Its Future Conservation." Ge-conservacion 20 (2021): 105-117.
Lobo, Paula Ribeiro. "Almada and the Maritime Stations." Revista de História da Arte–série W 2 (2014): 342-352.
Monteiro, João Pardal. "Porfírio Pardal Monteiro and the Global Design." docomomo journal 55 (2016): 24-29.
Sapega, Ellen W. Consensus and Debate in Salazar's Portugal: Visual and Literary Negotiations of the National Text, 1933–1948. Vol. 8. Penn State Press, 2008.
