Raquel Martins | Contemporary Artist: Artworks & Biography

Raquel grew up in Mozambique, in the south of the African continent, in an environment conducive to creative development. Bathed in classical music, the family house had on its bookshelves a collection of literary and artistic works. In this atmosphere full of sound, visuals and intellect, Raquel was awakened to art and her taste for beauty matured. In 1974, when the political climate deteriorated, her family found refuge in Johannesburg, South Africa. At the age of eight, Raquel already knew she would devote her life to painting. Her obsession began when attending her first lessons in anatomy, and it would never leave her.\n In South Africa, the apartheid regime forced Raquel’s family to move again. The painter finally left the continent in 1982. She moved to Portugal, where she built her career first as a portrait artist and then as fully-fledged artist. A visit to Paris in the early 1990s played an important role in the construction of her pictorial identity. The artists of the twentieth century, such as Braque (France), Picasso (Spain), Modigliani (Italy) and Utrillo (France) were particular influences for her. However, her main source of inspiration remained the "" abstract landscape "" of the Portuguese painter Maria Elena Vieira da Silva (twentieth century).\n In abstraction, as in figuration, Raquel is looking for dynamism and surprise, but also organization and security. The urban artist finds this duality reflected in the architecture of Lisbon. The medieval mystery of the Portuguese capital, its colourful buildings and the nostalgia that it produces can be found in her works. More and more refined, the latter are never fixed in a style or technique. They evolve with the curiosity of the artist and her kind outlook on the world.