Almada Route

In the lobby of the building housing the Auditor’s Court in Lisbon can be seen two tapestries by Almada Negreiros entitled O Contador [The Accountant] and O Número [The Number]. The latter reveals one of the artist’s fascinations: mathematics and, associated with it, geometry. He considered this a field that was close to sacred, a challenge for those who through art wish to unveil the essence of things and, in particular, what the future has in store.

Opening hours: Working days from 9 am to 5.30 pm

In the old audience chamber of the Court of Auditors in the building in Praça do Comércio occupied by the Ministry of Finance, you’ll find the oil on canvas paintings A Receção pela Rainha D. Maria II do Duque de Ávila, que lhe leva o Decreto da Criação do Tribunal de Contas [Queen Maria II Receives the Duke of Ávila Bearing the Decree Creating the Auditor’s Court] and A Criação por Decreto do Novo Tribunal de Contas [The Creation by Decree of the New Auditor’s Court]. Expressly commissioned from Almada Negreiros to decorate this room, these two works date from 1958. Both allude to the creation of the Court of Auditors on 10 November 1849.

Opening hours:  Visits only available by prior arrangement

The tile patterns which surround the doors of various buildings in Avenida Gago Coutinho in Lisbon are attributed to Almada Negreiros, as drawings that appear to be designs for them were discovered amongst his possessions. His work on these types of geometric compositions on tile was aimed at creating modules of patterns that could be created in series. His closeness to the industry is demonstrative of his broad view of art, something that found its basis in Modernist thought, which regarded all art forms as equal.

This café-restaurant, as a rule associated with the poet Fernando Pessoa, was also one of Almada Negreiros’s favourite meeting places. In fact, both often sat at the same table at Martinho and it’s said that it was here that Pessoa had his last coffee, in the artist’s company, on 28th November 1935, before dying two days later at S. Luiz Hospital.

Opening hours: 7.00 am – 11.00 pm. Closed on Sunday.

Average price: €35

Designed by the architects Nuno Teotónio Pereira and Bartolomeu da Costa Cabral, this building was constructed in 1956, the year Almada Negreiros created the two mosaic murals commissioned for its interior. At the side entrance is Meninos Brincando [Children Playing], in which all the figures are inspired by movement, and in the lobby in the main entrance is Alegoria à Construção [Allegory to Building], a composition inspired by the cinematic aesthetic of the era. This building is one of the most notable examples of Modernist architecture in Portugal.