Mário Cesariny
Mário Cesariny de Vasconcelos, quintessential representative of Portuguese Surrealism, was a poet, translator, and painter. He represented Surrealism in an exemplary manner, both as artistic and literary expression, and above all as a revolutionary manner of perceiving, understanding, and enjoying life.
He began his literary and artistic life early. He attended António Arroio, a school for decorative arts, from 1936 to 1943. In 1942 he created his first paintings, drawings, and poems, writing A Poesia Civil and Burlescas, Teóricas e Sentimentais.
With Os Surrealistas, in 1949, he participated in the group’s first exhibition at the Pathé-Baby Projection Room in Lisbon, open to the public from 18 June to 2 July. His poetic work is one of the richest and most complex contributions to the history of contemporary Portuguese poetry. In the fine arts field, he played an important role as an introducer of new techniques and artistic attitudes. The first surrealistic collage was authored by Mário, as well as an important work of material experimentations that rejected any technical or formal concern.
His personal collection consisted of letters, postcards, photographs, negatives, handwritten notebooks, intervened books, among others, which now allow us access to his surrounding environment by looking at what he built and what he created, objects that formed an integral part of his life.