A pioneer of geometric abstraction in Portugal, Nadir Afonso is a major name in Portuguese art, who first became known internationally through the participation in exhibitions in Paris, as is the case of - Le mouvement
, in 1955, at the historic Denise René Gallery, where he showed works from the «Espacelllimité» series. Created by Nadir, this concept consisted in the depuration of geometric elements placed in a horizontal composition, that could expand to all the margins or centre in its axis, overflowing the limits of the canvas and creating a feeling of continuity and unlimited space. Like a musical score, these geometric signs translate a formal and rhythmic refinement, organised within the balance dictated by the intuition drawn from mathematical laws.

Trained as an architect, Nadir's artistic gaze distinguished, from the beginning, the architecture of cities. After working with Le Corbusier and Óscar Niemeyer, and following the evolution reached within the path of geometric abstraction, sublimed in «Espacelllimité», he resumed this theme extending it to the aesthetic reinterpretation of urban referents. Such is the case with - Nocturno de Agra
, a painting inspired by the Indian city of the emblematic Taj Mahal monument, in which the characteristic monochromatic background is, here, given a night black colour and the shapes are synthetized only by different shades of green. In a strong composing dynamic, straight and oblique lines prevail in trapezoid planes that create perspective and where ogives, lozenges and counter curved arches are inscribed. This work is part of Nadir's “perspetico” (perspectival) period of geometric cities, which occurred between 1965 and 1985.