The gesturalism of Artur Bual

The 2015 retrospective exhibition of Artur Bual at Perve Galeria marked a doubly significant occasion, coinciding with the anniversary of both the gallery and the Casa da Liberdade – Mário Cesariny, with the show presented simultaneously across both spaces in Alfama, Lisbon. The exhibition was the first official launch in Portugal of a publication on the artist, a work that had previously been presented to the public in Paris as part of a posthumous retrospective. The exhibition paid tribute to Artur Bual (1926–1999), widely regarded as one of the foremost figures in twentieth-century Portuguese painting, and an artist who had directly influenced Perve Galeria's directors, Carlos Cabral Nunes and Nuno Espinho da Silva, in the founding of the institution. The accompanying publication featured contributions from painter Manuel Cargaleiro and painter and art critic Eurico Gonçalves — both of whom had close personal ties to Bual — whose critical texts offered deeper insight into his artistic output. Despite Bual's undeniable impact on Portuguese visual arts, particularly as a pioneer of gesturalism in the country, the retrospective underscored that his legacy remained far from fully understood, making the exhibition all the more timely and relevant.