Maria Helena Vieira Da Silva, “painter of motion”, inspires immersive art in Lisbon
Synesthete Pau 365 is moved to dance in celebration
Article by Patricia Lynne Duffy
I had the good fortune to be in vibrant, colorful Lisbon with “synesthete taste-dancer” Pau 365—where we experienced the city’s first immersive art exhibition by celebrated Portuguese artist, Maria Helena Vieira Da Silva*. The exhibition titled “Painter in Motion” was at the Arpad Szenes-Vieira da Silva Foundation on a contrastingly still and tranquil square in Lisbon.
The complex, abstract works of Vieira da Silva constitute “mini-worlds” and lend themselves perfectly to a synesthetic immersive exhibition, complete with moving images and music. Da Silva aimed to create a sense of motion in her paintings. The undulating forms in the exhibition space are colorful environments that let viewers enter and explore their moods and mysteries:
In this immersive exhibition, the moving images of DaSilva, painter of motion, have in turn, stirred the impulse to move in synesthete and “taste-dancer” Pau 365.
Pau 365* is moved to further celebrate painter-of-motion Da Silva by “dancing the tastes” of Portugal; many of these tasty traditional foods, no doubt, once nourished artist Da Silva herself.
*More about Maria Helena Vieira Da Silva:
In 1908, Da Silva was born in Lisbon, where she later studied art at the Academy of Fine Arts. Her talent was recognized and she continued her study under renowned artists, Fernand Leger and Antoine Bourdelle. After the Second World War, Da Silva moved to Paris where, in 1966, the French government honored her with the “Prix National des Arts”. She was the first female painter to be awarded this prize. Da Silva’s paintings have been exhibited worldwide at venues including the Grand Palais in Paris, the Tate Gallery in London, the Museum of Modern Art in New York, and the Calouste Gulbenkian Museum in Lisbon.
More about the “Painting in Motion” exhibition in Lisbon
https://www.visitlisboa.com/en/events/painting-in-motion
*More about synesthete taste-dancer Pau 365:
“Synesthesia Tree” author Pau 365 is a taste-shape synesthete. She expresses the shapes, movement, direction, attitude and emotion of each different taste through dance. Taste-shape is when you taste a food or drink and you perceive geometric figures or something similar to that…
See more info about taste-shape synesthesia in The Synesthesia Tree:
https://www.thesynesthesiatree.com/2021/03/taste-shape-synesthesia.html
Patricia Lynne Duffy is the author of the now classic, Blue Cats and Chartreuse Kittens: how synesthetes color their worlds, the first book by a synesthete about synesthesia. An audio version of the book with research updates, music by synesthete-composers, and an “Afterword” is recently out, available from Audible. Duffy also contributed a chapter, “Synesthesia and Literature” to the Oxford Handbook of Synesthesia. See her website: