Background
Nadir Afonso was born on December 4, 1920 in Chaves, Portugal. He was the son of Palmira Rodrigues Afonso and Artur Maria Afonso, a poet.
Nadir Afonso was born on December 4, 1920 in Chaves, Portugal. He was the son of Palmira Rodrigues Afonso and Artur Maria Afonso, a poet.
Initially, Nadir was educated at the University of Porto, graduating with a Diploma in Architecture. Some time later, in 1946, the painter left for Paris, where he studied at the École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts.
In France, Nadir Afonso worked with the architect Le Corbusier until 1948 (and again in 1951). During this period, the painter developed his own style of geometric abstractionism. His new fundamentals of aesthetics reoriented his concepts of the origin and essence of art, that resulted in his 1948 research thesis, controversial to his architectural work "Architecture Is Not an Art". In 1949, Afonso left Paris and for a while immersed himself fully in his paintings. He went through a period of inspiration in the Portuguese Baroque, followed by an Egyptian period.
Since December 1951 to 1954, Nadir worked with the Brazilian architect Oscar Niemeyer. Some time later he returned to Paris, where he joined the group of the Denise René Gallery, connecting with French-Hungarian painter Victor Vasarely (father of Op-art), Danish painter Richard Mortensen, French painter Auguste Herbin and French architect André Bloc.
In 1958, the painter published his first book "La Sensibilité Plastique" with the support of art critic Michel Gaüzes, patron Madame Vaugel and Victor Vasarely. The following year, his first anthology exhibition was held at the Maison des Beaux-Arts in Paris.
In 1965, he moved back to his hometown of Chaves and gradually took refuge in isolation and accentuated the orientation of his life towards the creation of art. He terminated the architecture practice and pursued his aesthetics studies based on geometry, which he considered the essence of art.
He travelled to the United States in 1974, participated in exhibitions in New York and published "Aesthetic Synthesis". In 1983, he published "Le Sens de l'Art" and in 1996 produced the panels for the Restauradores metro station in Lisbon.
In 2011, Nadir was invited to illustrate the cover of the 147th anniversary of "Diário de Notícias" and in January 2012 was honoured at the S. João National Theatre, with the premiere of the film by Jorge Campos "Nadir Afonso - O Tempo não Existe", with the presentation of the book "Nadir Afonso conversa com Agostinho Santos" and with the photographic exhibition "Nadir Afonso - No Tempo e no Lugar" by Olívia da Silva.
Nadir Afonso spent the last three decades of his life painting, exhibiting and writing with regular and growing comfort.
During his lifetime, he exhibited regularly in such cities, as Lisbon, Porto, Paris, New York and others. Nadir also was invited twice to represent Portugal at the São Paulo Art Biennial.
Iris Composition
Doges de Veneza
Cidade de Chaves
Deux Styles
Hiroxima
Ocidente
Bruxelas
Espacillimité
Clérigos
Espacillimité
Dresden
Espacillimité
Copacabana
Gôndolas
Moscow
Port of Copenhagen
Espacillimité
Madrid
Venice
Espacillimité
Espacillimité
Procissão em Veneza
Sevilha
Espacillimité
Parque de S. Paulo
Áurea purpúrea
Praça dos Aliados
Surrealist Evora
Ópera
Nadir Afonso defended the idea, that art is purely objective and ruled by laws, that treat art not as an act of imagination, but of observation, perception and form manipulation.
Nadir was married twice and had five children.