Memories of a travelling painter: Fausto Sampaio and the Portuguese empire

Abstract

To reflect on colonial artistic production from a post-colonial perspective means problematising its formal and conceptual dimensions which are found within the wider universe of visual discourse. Thus, within the context of reflection on imagistic discourse, which during the 20th century contributed to the construction of an imagined view of the “Portuguese colonial empire”, painting holds a privileged place in the domain of coloniality to help us understand this identity, memory and history while calling upon a multiplicity of experiences and pathways. The travels of the painter Fausto Sampaio (1893-1956), taking him from São Tomé to Macau, from Timor to Portuguese India, as well as throughout mainland Portugal, enabled him to put together a rare pictorial dossier of the Empire.