HISTORICAL FIGURES BY TIAGO AZEVEDO

Last week, I had the good fortune to talk with the Portuguese painter, Tiago Azevedo, about his life as an artist (click here to read my interview with him). So this week, I thought I’d show you some of his most recent work. Here, check this out...

Elizabeth I  / Louis XIV

Tiago’s current collection is called ‘Historical Figures’, which comprises a series of seven portraits that depict reimagined personages from across the ages, including Cleopatra, Queen Victoria, Joan of Arc, Marie Antoinette, Napoleon, Louis XIV, and Queen Elizabeth I.

The Queen of Sheba / Mary Magdalene 

Aesthetically, each portrait has been illustrated with a blend of classical techniques from the Baroque and Pre-Raphaelite period, along with contemporary concepts of Tiago’s own devising, usually, wildly manipulated eyes, with the dimensions altered because of the way it transfers emotion through the canvas.

Cleopatra / Joan of Arc

This venture first began when Tiago decided to paint a series of ‘inspirational figures’ who touched him because of their life journey or their legendary beauty. For the Queen of Egypt, he strove to depict 'her mesmerizing gaze that seduced two of the most powerful rulers of the Roman Empire'. And for the French Resistance Heroine, he wanted to show her ‘sensuality despite her masculine charm’.

Marie Antoinette / Napoleon 

According to Tiago, his favorite character in this series is Napoleon. Not only because it challenged him to capture Napoleon's more ‘austere side’, but in addition to this, it was also pretty difficult to imagine the splendor of the era he lived in.

Cinderella

Tiago typically prefers to paint with oil because it allows him to work with multiple layers and achieve the transparency effect he constantly desires. ‘Painting also provides contrast and vibrancy of colors that would be difficult to achieve with any other technique’, he adds, 'and oil dries a lot slower, so this gives me more time to work on the details'.

Adam and Eve /  The Creation

“Historical Figures” is Tiago’s third major collection, and his only one based on real-life people. His previous two collections, “Fairytales” and “Religion”, were critical hits in the pop-surrealist art community, leading to exhibitions at both The Louvre and The Vatican.

The 6th Swan / The Hare 

Before becoming a painter, Tiago was a qualified architect who worked on several major projects, including the ‘Bayerischer Hof Hotel’, located in Munich. After a while, though, his desire to work within the realm of fantasy took him by the hand and spurred him on to where he currently is today.

Two Sisters

‘My audience tends to be very diversified’, Tiago once told a journalist, 'and they generally consist of people who love the fantastic. But, as almost all of my paintings are portraits, on occasion, some people simply fall in love with the way the painted figure looks at them, as if they were talking to them, and curiously, these are the people who often purchase my originals because they fell in love with the subject'.

And on that note, I’d like to thank Tiago for allowing me to showcase his work, before encouraging you to check out his Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter pages.