Sofia Areal

Training: AR.CO, Centro de Arte e Comunicação Visual, Lisbon (1981-83); Herefordshire College of Art & Design, United Kingdom (Foundation Course, 1979-80; Textile Design, 1978-79).

An artist with a consistent trajectory in painting and drawing since the end of the 1980s, Sofia Areal develops a practice centred on the relationship between colour, gesture and language, in which the textual dimension (often fragmentary, ironic or confessional) appears as an extension of pictorial thought. Her work oscillates between the intimate and the public, between the spontaneity of gesture and a rigorous construction of space, articulating autobiographical references with a wider imaginary that is at times narrative and literary. Over the past decades she has consolidated a language of her own, marked by a constant tension between impulse and restraint, in which drawing and writing take on a structuring role.

Solo exhibitions (selection): "Alta Voltagem", Galeria São Mamede, Lisbon and Porto (2023); Fundação Carmona e Costa, Lisbon (2021); Centro Cultural Português, Luxembourg (2019); Ordem dos Arquitectos, Funchal (2018); Museu do Oriente, Lisbon (2016); Fundação Oriente, Macau (2014); Cordoaria Nacional, Lisbon (2011); Centro Cultural de Cascais (2006); Palácio Nacional de Queluz (2005); Casa da Cerca, Centro de Arte Contemporânea, Almada (2002, 2000).

Group exhibitions (selection): Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian, Lisbon (2021, 1999); Fundação de Serralves, Porto (2017); Museu Nacional de Arte Contemporânea, Museu do Chiado, Lisbon (2015); Fundação Arpad Szenes-Vieira da Silva, Lisbon (2019); Centro Cultural de Lagos (2021); regular participation in international fairs such as ARCO Madrid and Art Basel (2001, 2002).

Collections (selection): Centro de Arte Moderna, Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian; Fundação de Serralves; Fundação Carmona e Costa; Fundação Oriente (Lisbon and Macau); Museu de Arte Contemporânea de Elvas, Coleção António Cachola; Museu de Arte Contemporânea do Funchal; Casa da Cerca, Centro de Arte Contemporânea; Fundação Millennium BCP; Coleção Vodafone; among other public and private collections.

Alongside her artistic practice, she has developed public art projects, design work and collaborations with institutions and brands, including Vista Alegre, as well as editorial work, with publications and participation in documentary projects dedicated to art and creativity.