Skip to Content

The Arts Intel Report

Maria Helena Vieira da Silva: Anatomy of Space

Maria Helena Vieira da Silva, Figure de ballet [Ballet Figure], 1948.

Until Sept 15
Dorsoduro, 701-704, 30123 Venezia VE, Italy

Maria Helena Vieira da Silva (1908–1992) fell in love with art while still a child. Her father was a diplomat, and by the time she was 11, she had already encountered the sharp canvases of the Italian Futurists and the whimsical costumes of the Ballets Russes. Vieira da Silva studied at the Academia de Belas-Artes under Emília dos Santos Braga and Fernand Léger, then moved to Paris as soon as she was old enough. There she became part of Europe’s Abstract Expressionist movement, known as Art Informel. Her style blends Futurism, Cubism, and Constructivism, and in large, luminous canvases she lets jagged forms interrupt and rearrange the picture plane. This exhibition brings together 70 works by the Portuguese national treasure, on loan from museums around the world. —Elena Clavarino

Photo: Jean-Louis Losi © Adagp/Jeanne Bucher Jaeger, Paris, by SIAE 2024