Three Pyramids Painting by Carlos Dugos

Carlos Dugos was born in Lisbon in 1942. His first works date back to 1957, yet, one year later, he moved to Lorenzo Marques, then the Capital of Mozambique, where he attended an Art School - under the guidance of the painter João Ayres – and had the opportunity to work with Malangatana, José Júlio, Álvaro Passos and a few other Mozambican artists.

His first individual and group exhibitions where held in Lorenzo Marques and Johannesburg.

Back to Portugal in 1967, Carlos Dugos settled in Lisbon and committed himself to the improvement of oil painting techniques.

In 1974-75 he travelled around Europe; after a period in Zurich, in Madrid he enjoyed the contact with several artists and a good number of Art Galleries and Museums.

Again in Portugal, he spent long periods in Sintra and Ericeira, developing a deep study on symbolism and on the esoteric tradition, as reflected in his first works of “metaphysical” inspiration.

In 1977 he returned to Lisbon and carried on with his studies on symbolism as the spiritual language par excelence. To achieve his aim, he attended a course on theology organised by the “Leoninum Orthodoxum Institutum”, sponsored by Sorbonne, while, simultaneously he developed a long workshop practice, which works have never been exhibited as he considers them to be purely experimental. In one of his notes, in 1980, he wrote: “In Art, an idea - and the feeling that idea is related to - needs an appropriate plastic language in order to be able to express itself properly. The search for that language is constant in me. Exhibiting means having a coherent, articulate and mastered way of communicating. If you accept a public responsibility, you must possess the means to accomplish it.”

Such a responsibility was taken in 1984, when, invited by Arcano XXI Gallery, he took part in a group exhibition with eight canvases of his.

In that same year he became the director of a new art gallery - S. Bento – where he got in charge of a cultural development.

In 1988 he was invited to keep a temporary “studio” in Palácio da Pena. This was a major experience, as this palace, built in the 19th century by the Austrian Prince Ferdinand of Saxe Coburg Gotta, prince-consort in Portugal through his marriage to the Portuguese Queen, Maria II, is unique in its symbolic architecture. His two-year sojourn in that Wagnerian “eagle’s nest” definitely enriched the metaphysical urge in the painter’s work.

From 1985 he travelled around Europe again - Holland, Spain, Austria and Italy. In this same period he took part in several exhibitions in Lisbon and made a number of serigraphic works.

Carlos Dugos did some chromatic studies for public buildings in Portuguese towns and villages.

His work can be seen in Maputo City Hall, in Caixa Geral de Depósitos (the biggest Portuguese Bank), in the IGAPHE (Institute for the State Housing Property), in some other banks, public institutions, private companies and in numerous Portuguese an...

• Nationality: PORTUGAL
• Date of birth : 1942
• Artistic domains:
• Groups: Contemporary Portuguese Artists