Maria Helena Vieira da Silva, a Portuguese artist, is considered to be one of the greatest abstract landscape artists of the 20th century

‍

She studied art in Lisbon and Paris, where she settled permanently in the 1930s and became a student of Antoine Bourdelle and Fernand Léger. At the same time, she met and married Árpád Szenes, Hungarian non-figurative painter. In 1966, she was the first woman to receive the Grand Prix National des Arts from the French government. Vieira da Silva's style is characterized by complex abstract paintings composed of intertwined spaces and geometric shapes. The artist also illustrates numerous books and creates large tapestries in collaboration with Jean Lurçat.

‍

Vieira da Silva's works are exhibited in museums around the world, including the Georges Pompidou Center in Paris and the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York. His artistic heritage is praised for his contributions to abstract art and for his ability to create compositions that invite the viewer to explore space and depth. In November 1994, the Árpád Szenes-Vieira da Silva Foundation is inaugurated in Lisbon and exhibits a remarkable collection of the two artists. In 2022, the Cantini Museum in Marseille presents the exhibition Vieira da Silva, the eye of the labyrinth, extended to the Museum of Fine Arts in Dijon in 2023.