Joaquim Rodrigo (Lisbon, 1912 – Lisbon, 1997) completed his graduation in Agronomic Engineering at the Agronomic Superior Institute, in 1939, where he later also graduated in forestry. He worked in this area from 1938, and was one of the people responsible for the creation of the Monsanto Forest Park. The interest in an artistic career came late, he entered the Painting course at Sociedade Nacional de Belas Artes only in 1950. However, he didn’t identify himself with the academic education method and abandoned the course the following year, renting a studio with other colleagues, giving preference to a self-educated development path. His constant travels throughout Europe, from the 1940’s onwards, will have given him the stimulus for his artistic activity later on, particularly his trips to Paris, where he witnessed the emergence of the aspects of abstractionism. In 1951, he showed his work at the 6th General Exhibition of Fine Arts, and he became a regular presence in the following exhibitions. In 1954, he was part of the group of artists at the 1st Abstract Art Salon, organised by José-Augusto França at the Galeria de Março. The following years are marked by his presence at the round-tables of Paraíso and by the participation in important exhibitions, such as the São Paulo Biennale (1957 and 1989) and the Art Portugais retrospective (Brussels, 1967; Paris and Madrid, 1968). He did an important solo exhibition at Quadrum Gallery, in 1982, at which he was awarded the AICA/SEC prize. If, at first, his work was essentially connected to geometric abstractionism, from the 1960’s onwards, there was a greater interest in the figurative, incorporating an original symbolic language, at times a criticism to the events around him, such as the Colonial War. He was the author of the texts O Complementarismo em Pintura [Complementarism in Painting] (1982) and O Pintar Certo [Painting Right] (1995), which are conceptual bases for his pictorial production. In 1972, Sociedade Nacional de Belas Artes organised his first retrospective exhibition, and he received the Soquil Art Critique Award. He was also the only artist to whom historian José-Augusto França dedicated a monographic study. He is represented in the most relevant national public and private collections.
FMV, October 2020
