Maria Helena Vieira da Silva
Anatomy of Space
Guggenheim Museum Bilbao
October 16, 2025 - February 22, 2026
An in-depth survey of the visual language of Portuguese-born French artist Maria Helena Vieira da Silva (1908–1992), this exhibition traces key moments in her career from the 1930s to the late 1980s through eight thematic sections. Particular focus is placed on her exploration of architectural space, where she dissolved the boundaries between real and imaginary urban landscapes, moving beyond formal references to Portuguese visual culture and avant-garde movements such as Cubism and Futurism.
Born in Lisbon, Maria Helena Vieira da Silva trained both there and in Paris. Influenced by her studies in sculpture and anatomy, as well as by the great masters of the past—particularly Paul Cézanne—and the avant-garde movements of the twentieth century, she developed a distinctive pictorial idiom in which the physicality of space merges with the dimensions of time and memory.
Her compositions, characterized by labyrinthine structures, chromatic rhythms, and fragmented perspectives, capture the essence of a world in constant transformation.
Curator: Flavia Frigeri
GUGGENHEIM MUSEUM BILBAO | BILBAO, SPAIN
