Drawing Room Lisboa 2025: Contemporary Drawing Reaffirms Its International Role

The eighth edition of Drawing Room Lisboa took place from October 23 to 26, 2025, at the Sociedade Nacional de Belas Artes in central Lisbon. Dedicated entirely to contemporary drawing, the fair brought together 23 galleries from Portugal, Spain, and other countries, consolidating its position as a key meeting point for artists, gallerists, curators, collectors, and art professionals.

A broad panorama of contemporary drawing

The General Program featured works by artists of different generations and origins, represented by galleries such as 3+1 Arte Contemporânea, Arte Periférica, Balcony, Carlos Carvalho, Dialogue Gallery, Galeria 111, Belo Galsterer, Miguel Nabinho, Nuno Centeno, Pedro Oliveira, Presença, Salgadeiras, Kubik Gallery, and This is Not a White Cube, among others.
International participants included Galería Silvestre (Madrid), Siboney (Santander), Bibli (Santa Cruz de Tenerife), and Trinta Arte Contemporánea (Santiago de Compostela), underscoring the event’s Iberian and cosmopolitan dimension.

The fair presented three solo exhibitions dedicated to José Herrera (Galería Bibli), Tiago Baptista (3+1 Arte Contemporânea), and Cecília Costa (Galeria Belo Galsterer), alongside the exhibition Some Drawing, featuring works from the Ilídio Pinho Foundation collection, curated by Miguel von Hafe Pérez. This show included significant works by major figures in Portuguese 20th-century art such as Maria Helena Vieira da Silva, Júlio Pomar, Ângelo de Sousa, António Sena, Jorge Pinheiro, and Susanne Themlitz.

Papeleo Nº7 and the reflection on drawing

A highlight of this edition was the release of Papeleo Nº7, From Trail to Trace (Do rasto ao traço), curated by Maria do Mar Fazenda, which brought together 22 Portuguese artists working with diverse approaches to drawing. The launch featured a performance by the collective PIZZ BUIN, whose members intervened in the publication’s copies, emphasizing the performative and experimental aspects of drawing.

Awards and recognition

The Millennium bcp Foundation, celebrating its 30th anniversary, once again demonstrated its commitment to contemporary creation by sponsoring three key awards:

• Featured Artistic Project Award, worth €4,500.
• Gallery Curatorial Project Award, worth €2,000.
• Acquisition Award – Emerging Talent, worth €3,500, with the winning work joining the Millennium bcp Foundation’s collection.

Additional recognitions included the Imprensa Nacional–Casa da Moeda Awards, featuring the Third INCM Art Prize (up to €10,000) and a new Editorial Award, which will publish a monograph on a Portuguese artist participating in the fair.
Further support for emerging talent came through the Viarco New Talent Award, the Mouseion – Art Law House Award, and the Ângelo & Damião Collection Acquisition Award.

The FLAD Drawing Award, valued at €20,000, showcased works by five finalists — Ana Manso, Mariana Gomes, Luísa Jacinto, Pero Vaz, and Tiago Baptista — each receiving a €2,000 production grant. The winner was announced during the fair on October 25.

Conversations, editions, and research

The Millennium Art Talks series revisited the central question “What is a drawing?”, with artists, critics, and curators offering multiple perspectives. Participants included Francisca Carvalho, Gonçalo Pena, Mariana Gomes, Cecília Costa, Pedro Vaz, Flávia Vieira, and José Almeida Pereira, moderated by José Marmeleira, Leonor Nazaré, Maria do Mar Fazenda, and Juan Luis Toboso.

Meanwhile, the Editorial Space, curated by Filipa Valladares, reaffirmed the fair’s commitment to publishing and artist books, featuring key Portuguese-language publishers such as Sistema Solar–Documenta, STET – Books & Photography, Tinta nos Nervos, Imprensa Nacional, Taffimai, and Meel Press.

An Iberian meeting point

The program also included the talk “Drawing the Interior Landscapes”, moderated by Mónica Álvarez Careaga, which addressed cross-border cultural initiatives between Portugal and Spain, featuring Ana Cristina Cachola and Borja Fernández-Cobaleda.

Through its exhibitions, awards, publications, and discussions, Drawing Room Lisboa 2025 reaffirmed its leadership in the field of contemporary drawing, celebrating the diversity and vitality of a practice that continues to expand its definitions and significance within the contemporary art landscape.