Mario Cesariny, 83, Surrealist Poet and Painter
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Surrealist poet and painter Mario Cesariny, seen as one of Portugal’s most important cultural figures, died November 19 in Lisbon. He was 83.
As well as the poetry and painting for which he was best-known, Mario Cesariny de Vasconcelos, born Aug. 9, 1923, also wrote novels and plays.
He worked with other surrealist greats and was influenced by French artist Andre Breton, author of the “Surrealist Manifesto,” whom he met while studying in Paris in 1947.
In Portugal, Cesariny was a part of the Surrealist Group, a gathering of Portuguese artists that included Antonio Pedro and Alexandre O’Neill, and later parted with it to create the Dissident Surrealist Group.
In 2005, he received two accolades, the Grand Prize of Literary Life for his entire body of work, and the Grand Cross of the Order of Liberty, bestowed upon him by then-President Jorge Sampaio.
Among some of his best known works are 1950’s “Corpo Visivel” (Visible Body), “Pena Capital” (Capital Punishment) from 1957, and 1994’s “Titania.”
