João Mota Gomes · Painter
The mark, the stroke, the colour.
Fifty years of painting, mostly in silence. Mornings by the sea, sailing when there is wind, the market, friends. A life divided between the Algarve and Lisbon, where he grew up and returns often throughout the year.
From the atelier · just finished
The latest paintings
The latest paintings to leave the atelier, shown to scale with each other: some large canvases, and others for smaller walls.
Works · three periods
The work, by period
Arranged as on the old site: the most recent first, then the 2000s and the 1980s and 1990s. Fifty years of work that kept changing.
Path · from childhood to 2026
Fifty years on one stave
João talks about painting like composing. So his path reads like a score: each painting sits on the stave in its period. Tap one to open it.
Swipe to see the whole path →
notebooks full of drawings1975
starts painting1988
Switzerland, surrealist oils1995
Centro Cultural de Belém1996
New York, painting at nightAlgarve
atelier in Boliqueime2025
Art Expo Lisbon2026
now
At home · real size
A painting for every wall
Some canvases are over one and a half metres, others fit a small wall, something a screen cannot show. Here they are to scale, in two rooms, and your phone can hang any of them on your own wall.
The atelier opens its doors
Fifty years of painting in silence
Self-taught. Curiosity, experiment, books by the painters he admires and a few seasons abroad to see the world. A text by his son, Nuno.
No rules, but with purpose. No theories, but with meaning.
Some will say my father’s paintings have already turned up here and there. That’s true. But many people know he has been painting almost in “silence” for 50 years, along a path with different styles, spells of less inspiration and others of real flair. And in recent years there is a freshness. More lightness.
His routine these days lets him give it more time than ever. From walks at 7 in the morning to heading out to sea when there is wind. From the calm of the Algarve (on some days) to regular trips to the Azores. Being able to visit galleries without rushing. Finally having a proper atelier, “and the children settled”.
His school was one of the best: plenty of curiosity and experiment, books by the painters he admires and a few seasons abroad to see the world. Always self-taught.
No rules, but with purpose. No theories, but with meaning. Always chasing the unknown. Looking for balance in crooked lines. Knowing when to stop, so as not to spoil it.
These are not just random blots and strokes, made on impulse and without aim. Even in the abstract there are definitions. States of mind. And then some people love them and some feel nothing. Some want them in the dining room, or in a doctor’s surgery.
Each painting carries many hours that turn into months, and years that become a life. Each one is unique.
All this to say that, however central Boliqueime may be, the atelier is now opening its doors to everyone. To be closer. To show the new paintings and bring back what had been forgotten: the childhood drawings, the first adventures, the most memorable exhibitions, the time in Switzerland and New York. In the end, the “dream” has always been there. And it is more alive than ever.
Nuno Mota Gomes · translated from the Portuguese
From the archive · family photographs
Before the atelier
For many years João ran a beach bar on Praia da Rocha Baixinha, better known as Praia dos Tomates, in the Algarve, with partners. Summers belonged to the bar and winters were for painting. About ten years ago he gave up the bar and could give himself to painting as never before, with a lighter, freer life ever since. The earlier work came from other years and other experiments, and these photographs are part of that story.
Film · 6 min 30
The paintings come out of a life
Morning walks by the sea, sailing when there is wind, the market in Quarteira, lunch with friends, travel, Lisbon. Then the atelier. A short documentary, in Portuguese.
“Para onde? Para continuar a gostar do que faço.”
“Where to? To keep enjoying what I do.”
Between one painting and the next
In homes, clinics and offices
In the homes of the people who chose them
João paints because he loves it and because he feels the need to. It is a way of expressing himself. The paintings come even more alive when they leave the atelier to live in the sitting rooms, bedrooms and kitchens of the people who fell in love with them.
In his own hand
Notes from the atelier
João writes about what he thinks and feels. These two notes are in the atelier.
“There are days when I don’t feel like painting or drawing or writing or sailing, or walking or reading or… anything! Not talking, not socialising, not being, not going, not… everything!”
December 2021
“I can’t be an expensive painter because I have no standing or track record in the market. I can’t be a cheap painter because I don’t ‘produce’ in bulk; I give each painting a lot of time and attention. (…) I started painting at 18; I don’t intend to become a ‘painting factory’ now. I don’t have the talent for that either. Thankfully.”
24 January 2020Atelier · Boliqueime
“Nunca me quis tornar um industrial de quadros.”
I never wanted to become a painting factory. João has lived in the Algarve for about thirty years and has had his atelier in Boliqueime for seven. His paintings hang in private collections from the north to the south of Portugal. To ask about a painting, an exhibition or the film, write to him.
“Foi uma coisa muito boa ter este atelier, coisa que nunca tive antes.”
Having this atelier is something I never had before.
- 1988
- Solo shows in Switzerland: Château d’Allaman, Credit Suisse Lausanne, Montreux Convention Centre, Espace Imbach Sion
- 1995
- Solo show at the Centro Cultural de Belém, Lisbon
- 1996
- Two and a half months in New York: museums and galleries by day, painting at night
- 2023
- Cordoaria Nacional, Lisbon
- 2025
- Art Expo Lisbon, Cordoaria Nacional
- Before
- Group shows in Lisbon and Cascais. Drawing and painting at Ar.Co, Lisbon
Contact
Write to João
Questions about a painting, an exhibition or the film. Or just to say hello.