Henrique Franco: A Pioneer of Portuguese Modernism

A woman seen from behind, arms raised to her hair, sits before an oval mirror that gives back a glimpse of her face; a candle and a few bottles catch the light on the side table. Browns, turquoise and flame-orange, laid on with a loaded brush. Henrique Franco (1883–1961) painted the nude at her toilette throughout his mature career, and this one is lot 14 of our Modern Masters: 20th Century Art sale.

Funchal, Lisbon, Paris

Henrique Franco de Sousa was born in Funchal, Madeira, on 3 March 1883, the elder brother of the sculptor Francisco Franco. He studied at the industrial school in Funchal and at the Lisbon School of Fine Arts, then went to Paris as a pensioner of the Portuguese state. There the example of Manet and Cézanne turned him away from the naturalist colour of his training towards flat tones and simplified volume, the language he brought back to Portugal.

The Cinco Independentes and the frescoes

In 1923 he showed in Lisbon with the Cinco Independentes, alongside his brother Francisco, Dordio Gomes, Diogo de Macedo and Alfredo Miguéis, one of the founding moments of Portuguese modernism. He became professor at the Lisbon School of Fine Arts and one of the country’s leading mural painters: the frescoes of the Casa da Moeda (1936) and of the church of Nossa Senhora de Fátima in Lisbon (1938) are his. He died in Coimbra on 18 August 1961.

Where to see him

The Museu Nacional de Arte Contemporânea do Chiado holds his work, and the Museu Henrique e Francisco Franco in Funchal is devoted to the two brothers. His easel paintings, portraits, nudes, still lifes and Madeiran landscapes, reach the market mainly through the Portuguese sale rooms, and a 1940s nude in oil is a characteristic example. More on his artist page.

At Aurora & Athena

Nude before the Mirror, c. 1940s, oil on canvas, 46 × 38 cm, framed, signed at the lower right, is offered on 17 October 2026 with an estimate of 400 – 600 €. The canvas has been relined; the paint layer is intact. Photographs, condition summary and bidding on the lot page.