Gisela Rosenthal Knihy

Maria Elena Vieira da Silva, French, b. 1908 ""When I paint a landscape or a seascape, I'm not very sure it's a landscape or a seascape. It's a thought form rather than a realistic form."" Thus did Maria Elena Vieira da Silva explain her approach to her art, which is almost always completely abstract. Although she was generally regarded as Portugal's greatest contemporary artist, Vieira da Silva spent six decades of her life in France, where she became a naturalized citizen in 1956. Born in Lisbon, Vieira da Silva began seriously studying drawing and painting at that city's Academia de Belas- Artes when she was only 11. At 16, she expanded her artistic interests to include the study of sculpture. Three years later she moved to Paris.

The paintings of Maria-Elena Vieira da Silva are the result of a life-long search for the lost centre of the modern world. This book offers an account of that search, using the artist's paintings as markers of the journey.

Situada en un precioso enclave frente al Atlántico, sobre la desembocadura del tajo, Lisboa goza de un enorme atractivo para la mujer que viaja y que se dejará seducir por calles laberínticas y plazuelas.