Deolinda Fonseca

Who is Deolinda Fonseca?

Deolinda Fonseca is a well-known Portuguese painter who since 1979 has primarily worked in Denmark, "which, from an artistic point of view, has been a somewhat peripheral region throughout most of its history – just like Portugal." She is highly regarded for her evocative oil paintings of mostly abstract themes, though with hints of realistic images. She also paints vivid portraits, in which she combines realistic representation with abstract expressionism.

Her work is characterized by the kind of expressionism that oscillates between abstraction and figuration, an expressionism that connects the essence of the abstract pictorial depths, with a subtle disperse figuration.

"The artist makes us take part in an endless motion of entering and exiting the painting, expanding our vision beyond infinity or drowning it in an abyssal aperture of space and light; or on the contrary, retracts our vision to a position in front of the structural elements, pushing the canvas in our direction; or, even, makes us hover above the surface of the canvas, captivated by the dilution of the brush strokes and its contradictory gestures," observed the art critic Laura Castro.