Sofia Areal (born in Lisbon, 4 June 1960) is a Portuguese abstract painter, whose works adhere mostly to organic non-geometrical forms and a strong chromatic focus. Besides painting and drawing, Areal's work involves collage, textile design, and scenography.
Biography
Areal was born in Lisbon in 1960, daughter of the painter António Areal (1934-1978) and Maria Lira dos Passos Freitas Pereira (born 1937). She is the second of four sisters. Her father, besides being a painter, wrote several essays plus books on criticism and poetry. The mother, also an artist, has a course in sculpture and currently dedicates herself to drawing. The paternal grandfather, Joaquim Santiago Areal e Silva, was an architect and, together with Jorge Segurado, was one of those responsible for the restoration of national monuments in the 1950s. On the maternal side of the family, from the island of Madeira, the great-grandfather and the grandmother, linked to the arts, had studied in England. Areal grew up between Lisbon, Funchal, Azores and Mozambique.
Areal began her artistic training in the UK, where she attended the Textile Design course (1978-1979) and the Foundation Course (1979-1980) at the Hertfordshire College of Art & Design in St Albans. Upon returning to Portugal, she attended, between 1981 and 1983, the painting and drawing workshops at AR.CO, in Lisbon. She was a student of Rogério Ribeiro, António Sena and José Mouga. Besides painting and drawing, Areal developed her art in the fields of illustration, graphic design and set design. In 1982, she married the sculptor Rui Sanches, with whom she lived for 20 years and with whom she had a son, the artist Martim Brion.
Although she presented her work in group exhibitions throughout the 1980s, it was mainly from the invitation made by Alda Cortez to show at her gallery in 1990 that Areal started a regular dynamic in the public presentation of her works, which she has maintained until the present day.
Work
Sofia Areal started her training in England, taking the course in textile design and the foundation course at the Hertfordshire College of Art and Design, St Albans (1979–81), before continuing her studies in Portugal at Ar.Co engraving and painting workshops in Lisbon. She has participated in collective exhibitions since 1982 and held individual exhibitions since 1990. In addition to paintings and drawings, she also works in illustration and scenography.