Maria Helena Vieira da Silva Portuguese, 1908-1992

Overview
Maria Helena Vieira da Silva in her studio, 1960, Photo by Ida Kar
Maria Helena Vieira da Silva in her studio, 1960, Photo by Ida Kar
Perspective is a way of playing with space. I very much enjoy looking at space and rhythms. There's a connection between a city's architecture and music. Both have long times and short times. Little windows and big windows.
Maria Helena Vieira da Silva (1908–1992) was a Portuguese-born painter who became one of the leading figures of postwar European abstraction. After studying in Lisbon and Paris, she settled in France in the 1930s and later became a French citizen. Her work is known for intricate, labyrinthine compositions that suggest architectural spaces, networks, and shifting perspectives. Vieira da Silva was associated with the École de Paris and the movement of Lyrical Abstraction. In 1966, she was the first woman to receive France’s Grand Prix National des Arts. Her paintings are held in major museum collections worldwide, including the Centre Pompidou in Paris, Tate Modern in London, and the Museum of Modern Art in New York.
Biography
Maria Helena Vieira da Silva, The Town, 1955; Oil on canvas, 39 1/2 x 31 3/4 x 1 1/2 in.; National Museum of Women in the Arts, Gift of Wallace and Wilhelmina Holladay; © 2023 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / ADAGP, Paris
Maria Helena Vieira da Silva, The Town, 1955; Oil on canvas, 39 1/2 x 31 3/4 x 1 1/2 in.; National Museum of Women in the Arts, Gift of Wallace and Wilhelmina Holladay; © 2023 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / ADAGP, Paris

Maria Helena Vieira da Silva was a Portuguese-born abstract painter (born 13 June 1908, Lisbon; died 6 March 1992, Paris) who became a key figure in postwar European abstraction. An early student of drawing and painting at Lisbon’s Academia de Belas-Artes from age eleven, she later expanded her studies in Paris under artists such as Fernand Léger, Antoine Bourdelle, Othon Friesz, and at Atelier 17 with Stanley William Hayter.

After relocating permanently to Paris—apart from an exile period in Brazil during WWII—Vieira da Silva developed her distinctive style characterized by dense, labyrinthine compositions exploring space and perspective through delicate grids and fragmented forms.  In 1956, she became a naturalized French citizen, and in 1966 she was awarded France’s Grand Prix National des Arts, becoming the first woman to receive this honor.

Her work spans various media—including tapestry and stained glass—and is held in major international collections such as Lisbon's Centro de Arte Moderna Gulbenkian, MoMA (New York), Tate Modern (London), the Guggenheim, and the Stedelijk Museum (Amsterdam).