Maria Helena Vieira da Silva was born on 13 June 1908 in Lisbon.

She studied drawing and painting in the capital and, in 1928, left for Paris to attend sculpture classes at the Académie de la Grande Chaumière, under the guidance of the sculptor Antoine Bourdelle. She later chose painting, taking classes with the painters Fernand Léger and Roger Bissière, and studying engraving at the Atelier de S. W. Hayter.

With her marriage (1930) to the Hungarian painter Arpad-Szenes (1897-1985), whom she met at the Académie de la Grande Chaumière, she was deprived of her Portuguese nationality.

In 1932, the painter met Jeanne Bucher (1842-1946), with whom she became friends. Bucher was her first gallery owner and organised her first solo exhibition with the original gouaches made for the children’s book Kô et Kô (1933). The second was organised by António Pedro at the UP gallery in Lisbon (1935).

The beginning of World War II forced Vieira da Silva and Arpad-Szenes to leave Paris. The couple came to Lisbon (1939), but stayed here for a short time, leaving for Rio de Janeiro the following year. During her stay in Brazil, the painter socialised with the artistic and cultural milieu of Rio de Janeiro and exhibited at the National Museum of Fine Arts (1942) and the Askanazy Gallery (1944). Even before her return to Paris (1947), her works were exhibited at the Salon des Réalités Nouvelles (1945), marking the growing international recognition of her work, with the French State acquiring one of her paintings in 1948.

In 1956, after the Estado Novo refused to return her Portuguese nationality, the painter became a French citizen. It was in the French capital that Maria Helena Vieira da Silva died on 6 March 1992, aged 83. The catalogue raisonné of her work was published that year, after her death, by the foundation that bears her husband’s name (Fundação Arpad Szenes – Vieira da Silva).

Of the many solo – and retrospective – exhibitions of her work, some of those organised and/or held at the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation can be highlighted, such as Vieira da Silva (1970), Gravuras/Vieira da Silva (1975); Vieira da Silva: tempera painting, 1929-1977 (1977); Vieira da Silva (1989). And also those held at the Kestner-Gesellschaft (Hanover, 1958), the Museo Civico (Turin, 1964), the Musée de Peinture et de Sculpture (Grenoble, 1964), the Musée Fabre (1971), the Maison des Arts et Loisirs (Sochaux, 1976), the Musée d’État du Luxembourg (1976), at the Nordjyllands Kunstmuseum (Denmark, 1978), at the National Library of Paris (1981), at Artcurial (Paris, 1986), Galeries Nationales du Grand Palais (Paris, 1988), at the Serralves Museum (1989), at the Funcadión Juan March (Madrid, 1991), at the Museum of Modern Art of São Paulo (1987 and 1996-1997); at the Arpad Szenes – Vieira da Silva Foundation (2004-2005 and 2008), at Galerie Jeanne-Bucher and at the Grand Palais in Paris (2008).

Her work was part of many collective exhibitions, some of which were organised and/or shown at the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundations, such as Painting & sculpture of a decade 54-64 (Tate Gallery, 1964); Acquisitions of the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation in Paris: Columbano, Sousa Lopes, Francisco Smith, Souza Cardoso, Vieira da Silva (1969); Portuguese culture in Madrid…  (Palacio de Congresos, Madrid, 1977); Modern Portuguese tapestries (Kensington Palace, London, 1978); School of Paris 1956-1976 (1979); Le dessin au Portugal, 1900-1940 (Centro Cultural Português, Paris, 1981); O imaginário da cidade de Lisboa (Centro de Arte Moderna, 1985); Arte contemporáneo portugués (Museo Español de Arte Contemporáneo, Madrid, 1987); Arpad Szenes-Vieira da Silva in Portuguese collections (Budapesti Történeti Múseum, 1994); Waves of influence: five centuries of Portuguese tile (Snug Harbor Cultural Center, New York, 1994); Hors catalogue: un projet Gulbenkian à propos de sa collection (Maison de la Culture d’Amiens, 1996-97); Arpad Szenes. Vieira da Silva (Aveiro City Council Cultural Centre, 2000-2001).

As part of the international exhibition circuit, Vieira da Silva took part in the Venice Biennale (25^th, 1950 and 27^th, 1954), the São Paulo Biennale (2^nd, 1953, 6^th, 1961 and 20^th, 1989), the Kassel Documenta (2^nd, 1959 and 3^rd, 1964), the 3e Biennale Internationale de la Tapisserie in Lausanne and the 2.ª Internationale der Zeichnung in Darmstadt (1967).

Vieira da Silva also painted stained glass (Church of Saint-Jacques in Reims, 1966), tiles (Metro -Estação Cidade Universitária, Lisbon, 1988), and tapestries, winning a competition for tapestries for the University of Basel (1954) and collaborating with the Portalegre Tapestry Manufactory. In 1975, at the request of her friend Sophia de Mello Breyner, Maria Helena Vieira da Silva produced two posters to commemorate the 25th of April 1974, published by the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation.  Scenography and illustration were also part of her work.

Vieira da Silva’s work is represented in several Portuguese and foreign institutional collections, including Centro de Arte Moderna of the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundations; Museu Nacional de Arte Contemporânea (Lisbon); Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza (Madrid); Centre Georges Pompidou (Paris); Tate Collection (London); Museum of Modern Art – MoMA (New York); Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum (New York); Walker Art Center (Minneapolis); Art Institute of Chicago and Pinacoteca do Estado de São Paulo.

During her lifetime, the painter was named Honorary Member of the Grémio Literário de Lisboa (1968), of the Academia de Belas Artes de Lisboa (1971), chosen as a member of the Academia das Ciências das Artes e das Letras de Lisboa (1984) and elected a member of the Royal Academy of Arts in London (1988).

She has also been honoured with several awards – Grand Prix International de Pintura da Bienal de São Paulo (1961); Grand Prix National des Arts (France, 1966), Silver Medal of Plastic Arts of the Académie d’Architecture de Paris (1990) – and distinctions:  Chevalier and Commandeur de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres (France, 1960 and 1962); Grand Cross of the Order of Santiago de Espada (1977); Silver Medal of Plastic Arts of the Académie d’Architecture de Paris (1990); Officier de la Legion d’Honneur (1979).

Created in 1990, the Arpad Szenes – Vieira da Silva Foundation, dedicated to the work of the two painters, was inaugurated in Lisbon on 4 November 1994. On the life and work of the couple, the films Ma femme chamado Bicho (1978), by José Álvaro de Morais, and VIEIRARPAD, by João Mário Grilo (2021), were made, both with the support of the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation.