Portuguese art critic Luis de Moura Sobral, head of the Department of Portuguese Culture at the University of Montreal, passed away on the 11th in this Canadian city, according to the Instituto da História da Arte (IHA) of Nova University.

“The IHA deeply regrets the death of our fellow art historian Luis de Mour Sobral (1943-2021), Professor Emeritus in the Department of Art History and Cinematography, Faculty of Arts and Sciences, and Head of the Department of Portuguese Culture, University of Montreal,” where he taught for 40 years, said in a post from the IHA, Faculty of Social and Human Sciences, Universidade Nova de Lisboa (FCSH Nova).

Author of such works as “Do Sentido das Imagens – Essays on Portuguese Baroque Painting and Other Iberian Subjects” and “Painting and Poetry in the Baroque Period”, Luis de Moura Sobral noted “the historiography of art, especially painting and cultural studies of the modern era.” in Portugal and Brazil, ”writes IHN.

Historian Vitor Serrao on his Facebook page recalls Luis de Moura Sobral as “A student of iconographic cycles and symbolism of images in the Baroque style”and “the author of fundamental books for those who study the history of contemporary art both in Portugal and in the regions of its influence in the world, especially in Brazil.”

The professor at the Faculty of Arts at the University of Lisbon also recalls “important scientific projects” developed by Moura Sobral, such as the Congress of Portuguese Surrealism (Montreal, 1983) and, most recently, his film on tiles in Brazil. and in Portugal – “Azulejos – Uma Utopia Cerâmica” (2013), awarded by the SOS-Azulejo.

Moura Sobral also organized an international congress “Struggle for Synthesis” (Braga, 1996), exhibitions “Bento Coelho and the culture of his time” (1998) for the Institute of Portuguese Cultural Heritage “XVII” (2004), dedicated to Portuguese painting 17th century, which was in the National Museum of Ancient Art, and “Baroque paintings in Seville and the Algarve: contacts, coincidences and divergences” at the exhibition in Faro in 2017.

In 2013, in Montreal, he also organized a colloquium “The Presence of Portuguese Culture in the Premodern, Modern and Contemporary Era”.

He was also responsible for the special edition Revue de l’Art (Paris, 2001) on Portuguese art.

Luis de Moura Sobral was expected to participate as a guest speaker in the colloquium “Because love is as strong as death – The Song of Songs, the Universal Paradigm of Portuguese Culture” in Lisbon next November, which will take place the next day. days 17 and 18 at the National Library of Portugal.

According to the poet Gonçalo Salvado, organizer of this meeting and curator of the exhibition “Kiss Me with Kisses of the Lips – Song of Songs – Bibliographic and Iconographic Exhibition”, Luis de Moura Collected prepared the message “About Pintor Bento Coelho” da Silveira (Lisbon, 1617 – Lisbon, 1708) and the Song of Songs. A unique case in Europe. The first artist to “illustrate” the Song of Songs.

In a debate published this week by the French magazine Perspective in an issue on Portugal and the Portuguese-speaking countries, Luis de Moura Sobral summarizes “the fundamental problems and questions facing art history this Friday” and insists on “taking an active role. it plays to all historians, ”reports the IHN.

Luis de Moura Sobral was Academic Correspondent of the National Academy of Fine Arts and Knight Commander of the Order of the Infante D. Enrique.