Almada Negreiros, for those who bid with the heart

I collect Almada Negreiros. So I will say it now, before anything else: I am not neutral about this result.

On 2 November, Cabral Moncada Leilões held its auction 243 of modern and contemporary art in Lisbon. The star of the night, at least in percentage terms, was lot 16. An untitled gouache on paper by José de Almada Negreiros, signed and dated 1933, 32 by 28 cm, with some restoration on the edges of the paper.

The base price was €9,000, with an estimate up to €13,500. It sold for €20,000. As ECO reported the next day, no other work in the sale rose as much.

A face from 1933

Look at the image. A woman's face framed in red, a long neck, eyes that do not quite meet yours. It is pure Almada of the early 1930s, when he had just come back to Lisbon from his years in Madrid and the stylised faces that would later fill his murals were taking shape.

1933 is an interesting year. Almada was forty, already the most complete artist of his generation: painter, writer, poet, dancer, provocateur. A few years later he would paint the murals of the Diário de Notícias building and then the great panels of the maritime stations of Alcântara and Rocha do Conde de Óbidos.

A gouache like this is a small window into that moment.

The rest of the night

The sale had 134 lots and, according to ECO, made around €270,000 in total, with 69 lots left unsold. That is a demanding market. Buyers are choosing carefully.

Some results worth noting:

• Julião Sarmento, "Still (14) #1382", 1997: sold at its base price of €20,000.
• Maria Helena Vieira da Silva, a watercolour that went from €6,000 to €12,000.
• Armanda Passos: €15,000. Manuel D'Assumpção: €12,000. Maluda: €10,000.
• Manuel Cargaleiro: €6,500.
• Graça Morais: from €1,500 to €4,800.
• A drawing by José Régio, better known as a poet, went from €300 to €1,900.

Pedro Maria Alvim, a partner at Cabral Moncada, described the jumps of Graça Morais and Régio to ECO as significant rises that show "an attentive market". I agree. It was also the only Almada in the session.

Who is Cabral Moncada

Cabral Moncada Leilões is one of the reference auction houses in the country for Portuguese art, furniture and decorative arts. Its headquarters are on Rua Miguel Lupi, near São Bento, and it also runs online sales from a space on Rua Coronel Luna de Oliveira.

If you want to understand Portuguese art prices, follow their catalogues and those of Veritas. Between them, they set the reference prices for most of our modern masters.

Curious facts

• Almada was born in 1893 in São Tomé, then a Portuguese colony, and died in Lisbon in 1970.
• Before he was a painter of murals, he was a futurist. His "Manifesto Anti Dantas" of 1915 is still one of the funniest insults in Portuguese literature.
• In June 2026, Veritas sold Amadeo de Souza Cardoso's "Copo branco belleza dos objectos" for €476,340. The State used its right of pre emption, and the painting is going to the Museu Nacional Soares dos Reis in Porto. Portuguese modernism has real depth at auction now.

Where to see Almada in Lisbon

You do not need to bid to see him. The Gulbenkian's Modern Collection has his famous portrait of Fernando Pessoa. The maritime stations of Alcântara and Rocha do Conde de Óbidos keep his panels. And, inside the old Diário de Notícias building on Avenida da Liberdade, the murals are now open to anyone who walks into the Eleventy store.

My take

Was €20,000 too much for a small gouache with restored edges? On paper, maybe. In reality, no.

Good Almada works on paper from the early 1930s are rare, and the ones with a strong face like this are rarer. Someone in that room knew they might not see another one for years. I know that feeling very well.

Some auctions are won by the person with the best spreadsheet. This one was won by someone who bid with the heart. For those who do the same, it is not an expense. It is a rescue.