22 Facts About Nadir Afonso

Nadir Afonso, GOSE was a Portuguese geometric abstractionist painter.

Nadir Afonso achieved international recognition early in his career and many of his works are in museums.

Nadir Afonso was known to have painted into his later years and died on 11 December 2013, one week after his 93rd birthday, at a hospital in Cascais.

Nadir Afonso Rodrigues was born in the rural, remote town of Chaves, Portugal, on 4 December 1920.

Nadir Afonso's parents were Palmira Rodrigues Afonso and the poet Artur Maria Afonso.

Nadir Afonso took on the challenge and graduated in architecture, though he flunked the third year because some of his professors could not accept his artistic style.

In 1946, Nadir Afonso left Porto for Paris with a number of unfinished works from his "Iris period", and changed his signature with the surname Afonso.

Nadir Afonso resided at the Hotel des Mines in the Latin Quarter and spent his time regularly at students hangouts.

Nadir Afonso recalls this period of his life as the first time that he was in contact with the great world of art.

Nadir Afonso worked for a while, with the artist Fernand Leger.

In 1949, Nadir Afonso left Paris and for a while immersed himself fully in his paintings.

Nadir Afonso went through a period of inspiration in the Portuguese Baroque, followed by an Egyptian period.

From December 1951 to 1954, Nadir Afonso crossed the Atlantic to answer an invitation to work with the Brazilian architect Oscar Niemeyer; it was three years of "necessary architecture and obsessive painting".

Nadir Afonso joined the group of the Denise Rene Gallery, connecting with French-Hungarian painter Victor Vasarely, Danish painter Richard Mortensen, French painter Auguste Herbin, and French architect Andre Bloc, culminating in 1958 with the public showing at the Salon des Realites Nouvelles, of his animated painting Espacillimite.

Nadir Afonso terminated the architecture practice and pursued his aesthetics studies based on geometry, which he considered the essence of art.

Nadir Afonso was twice married, with five children, born between 1948 and 1989.

Nadir Afonso exhibited regularly in Lisbon, Porto, Paris, New York, and all over the world.

Nadir Afonso's work is in museums in Lisbon and Porto, Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo, Budapest, Paris, Wurzburg and Berlin, among others.

Nadir Afonso formed a foundation bearing his name, to which he donated his personal artwork collection, and engaged Pritzker Prize-winner architect Alvaro Siza to design its headquarters in his hometown of Chaves.

The recognition of Nadir Afonso's talent came early in his career, both in his home country and internationally.

Art is usually conceived as subjective, but for Nadir Afonso it was purely objective and ruled by laws.

Nadir Afonso's preferred materials were acrylic paint on canvas, and gouache on paper.