Guggenheim Museum Bilbao Presents Maria Helena Vieira da Silva. Anatomy of Space

The Guggenheim Museum Bilbao presents Maria Helena Vieira da Silva. Anatomy of Space, an in-depth survey of the work of Portuguese-born French artist Maria Helena Vieira da Silva (1908–1992). The exhibition will be on view from October 16, 2025, to February 22, 2026, in Bilbao, Spain.

The exhibition traces key moments in Vieira da Silva’s career from the 1930s through the late 1980s across eight thematic sections. It places particular emphasis on her exploration of architectural space, an area in which she dissolved the boundaries between real and imaginary urban landscapes, moving beyond formal references to Portuguese visual culture and avant-garde movements such as Cubism and Futurism.

Born in Lisbon, Vieira da Silva received her artistic training both there and in Paris. Her work was shaped by her studies in sculpture and anatomy, as well as by the influence of major figures in art history—particularly Paul Cézanne—and the avant-garde movements of the twentieth century. Through these influences, she developed a distinctive pictorial language in which the physicality of space merges with the dimensions of time and memory.

Her compositions are characterized by labyrinthine structures, chromatic rhythms, and fragmented perspectives, capturing the essence of a world in constant transformation.

Curated by Flavia Frigeri, the exhibition offers a comprehensive examination of Vieira da Silva’s contribution to twentieth-century art, focusing on her sustained investigation of space as both a physical and conceptual construct.

On the cover: Maria Helena Vieira da Silva

Le Couloir ou intérieur (The Hallway or Interior), 1948

Oil and graphite on canvas

46 x 55 cm

Private collection © María Helena Vieira da Silva, VEGAP, Bilbao 2025