Since 19th November, number 20 on Rua Ernest Cresson, in the Parisian district of Montparnasse, has displayed a plaque (see photo) bearing the name of Amadeo de Souza-Cardoso.

The inscription reads “Here, there lived and worked the Portuguese artist Amadeo de Souza-Cardoso (1887-1918), one of the precursors of Modern Art”. Despite having had various addresses in the city, this was the place chosen by the artist to live and paint between the end of 1912 and the beginning of 1914, a determinant period in his career.

This initiative was proposed by the Paris Council, presided over by Anne Hidalgo, and the councillor Hermano Sanches Ruivo in the wake of the artist’s major exhibition held at the Grand Palais between April and July of this year. The exhibition, organised by the Gulbenkian Foundation and by Grand Palais, revealed the works of Amadeo that had hitherto only received regular exhibition at the national level without ever gaining their deserved international profile.

The years that Amadeo lived in Paris, in particular on Rue Ernest Cresson, were fundamental to his legacy. In 1913, Amadeo participated in the Armory Show in the United States and in the first Autumn Salon in Berlin. The photo-biography of Amadeo, under the scientific coordination of Helena de Freitas, contains the following description: “At the end of 1913 or the beginning of 1914, Amadeo exhibited the album XX Dessins and probably the original sketches destined for exhibition at the School of Arts and Trades in Hamburg. This would actually have been his first individual exhibition held, interestingly, both outside his country of origin and his country of residence (France).”