Mainly by using oil painting as a medium, Margarida explores the world through an autobiographical language. She is interested in pushing the boundaries of typical representation of Portraiture as a genre and use her work as an ongoing process of self-discovery. The idea that “Every still-life is a self-portrait” (Gooding, 2020) is at the foundation of her work.

By depicting past memories and scenes inspired in moments of her present day-to-day life, she attempts to tell her story and freeze these frames in time whilst exploring the human essence at a deeper level. Her childhood plays an important role in her themes of choice – she often finds inspiration in memories/feelings/events from that time, but also in the History of Art. Some of her more contemporary role models are artists such as Barkley L. Hendricks, Chloe Wise, Paul Nash, Félix Vallotton and Paula Rego. Her work touches a lot on the feeling of Nostalgia.

Recently she has been interested in using the physical presence of the canvas as part of the artwork and has used a 1:1 scale in the works that involve human representation for a closer, or 'more human’, feeling between observer and artwork. In the past, she has resorted to the small scale to convey that intimacy latent in her work.

Portraiture, and more frequently self-portraiture, is at the core of Margarida’s body of work, but she often shows portraits that do not require a human presence – she is interested in the deeper layers of this genre and the levels that go beyond technical resemblance. It is about we as humans – the mystery of what we are (Brook, 2021).

BUY MARGARIDA PINHEIRO ARTWORK HERE