Retrato de Camões 1981

Jose de Guimaraes made this painting, Retrato de Camões, and the colors are so vibrant and smoothly applied, you get the sense that it’s all about feeling, like a big emotional cartoon. The surface is flat and even, the forms are outlined with a sense of clarity and precision, but it's the oddness of it all that stays with me. The colors are not quite real, you know? The figure’s face is like a gradient of pink and red. It's like a mask or a toy. And this pink glows against the pure black background. The whole thing has a graphic quality; the bold shapes, the flat planes of color. It reminds me a bit of Léger, but way more psychedelic and personal. This isn’t about historical accuracy. It's a feeling, a translation of something felt, not something seen. It's more like an embrace of a mood, an idea, a character… with a wink.