Manuel Cargaleiro (1928) made his debut in the visual arts through ceramics, when in 1945 he began to learn how to work this support. Only in the following decade did he begin to exhibit painting, considering his activity as a ceramist and painter indistinguishable from then on. A grant from the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation in 1958 allowed him to study in Paris, a city that would have an enduring influence on his artistic production through the affinities he established with the abstraction of the School of Paris, sharing affinities with Vieira da Silva and Roger Bissière.

The work - Le Retour d'Adonis
reveals this double framework of Cargaleiro's references. On the one hand, the luminous reverberations of tiles and ceramics, which are reflected in the geometric structure of the work and in his lighting strategies. On the other hand, a certain geometrical and lyrical abstraction of the School of Paris, which seems to resonate in the overall strategy of structuring the space of the work. Indeed, Cargaleiro states: "drawing for me is crucial, because the structure has to be present, and then disappear, leaving a kind of poem...”. In fact, Cargaleiro structures the space using an orthogonal grid, which is sometimes manifested in quadrangular units, sometimes in a sequence of coloured dots. However, the presence of this structure is dissolved through spaces that the author opens, making the scheme of this ordering disappear.

The joyful chromatic openness; the profuse lighting with its whites; the rhythm of the particles that appear only to be diluted afterwards; and the vibration resulting from the patient repetition of gestures all contribute to the frequently referred to musicality of Cargaleiro's work.