João Figueiredo is a Portuguese painter born in Lisbon in 1970. His work brings classical portraiture into dialogue with contemporary life, exploring identity, appearance and the ways in which we look at others.

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His artistic education includes Art History, animation at the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, a degree in Design from IADE (1993), and drawing and visual arts studies at AR.CO. His background in design informs the visual precision and unexpected juxtapositions of his paintings.

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Working with acrylic paint over photographic images, he revisits historical figures and familiar symbols through fragmentation, masks and concealed faces. Hands, ornate frames and displaced details become clues in compositions that combine humour, irony and a questioning of inherited values.

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Since his first painting exhibitions in 2000 and 2001, he has developed a practice in which the past becomes material for new stories, inviting viewers to look beyond the surface.

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UPCOMING EXHIBITION

Golden Hour — Hora de Ouro

Tributo ao Barroco

Palácio Duques de Cadaval · Évora

​31 de outubro de 2026