Mário Botas

Mário Botas (Nazaré, 1952 - Lisbon, 1983) moved to Lisbon in 1970 and completed a medical degree in 1975, a profession he never practised, devoting himself instead to painting and drawing. His first solo exhibition was held in Nazaré in 1971, and in 1973 he showed at Galeria São Mamede in Lisbon. In 1978 he left for New York, a city whose mythical and poetic charge marked his work and where his encounter with Egon Schiele's painting gave rise to a series of self-portraits. He returned to Portugal in 1980. He also directed Fernando Pessoa's play The Mariner. The Mário Botas House-Museum Foundation was created in 1984.