Mário Vitória was born on September 27, 1983, in Coimbra, with roots in the village of Côja, in the municipality of Arganil. He currently lives and works in Vila Nova de Gaia, where he maintains his studio and artistic production center.

Mário Vitória is already a singular name in Portuguese contemporary art, with a body of work that weaves together political intervention, poetics, and a profound commitment to the complexities of the human condition.

During his academic journey, he undertook intermediate studies in Lyon (France), Bologna (Italy), and Sheffield (England). He graduated from the Faculty of Fine Arts at the University of Porto, where he also completed a Master’s degree in Practices and Theories of Drawing. Additionally, he holds a Master’s degree in Visual Arts from the Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences at the University of Porto.

His work has received wide recognition from key figures in Lusophone culture, including Laura Castro, João Pinharanda, Gonçalo M. Tavares, Bernardo Pinto de Almeida, Fernando António Baptista Pereira, Jorge Olímpio Bento, Ana Zanatti, José Luís Peixoto, Valter Hugo Mãe, Boaventura de Sousa Santos, Artur Cruzeiro Seixas, Rosa Alice Branco, among others.

In 2010, he completed an official commission for a portrait of the former President of the Portuguese Republic, Dr. Mário Soares. This large-scale work is permanently exhibited in Arcos de Valdevez, the city where the last public tribute to the statesman took place.

As part of the 2012 European Capital of Culture program, he presented his largest work, Apocalypse and the Rapture of Europe, exhibited at institutions including the National Museum of Alberto Sampaio, the Dukes of Braganza Palace, the Sines Arts Center, the Vila do Conde Memory Center, the Machado de Castro National Museum, the Teixeira Lopes House Museum, the New Ceramics of Arganil, and the University of Lisbon Rectory.

His works have been studied at various educational levels and appear across multiple contexts, such as magazines, album covers, conferences, theater, and literary publications. He has regular involvement in literature, particularly poetry.

He represented Portugal at the international exhibition JCE – Young European Creators (2017–2019).

In 2017, Ana Carmem Nascimento defended her doctoral thesis titled A Social Study of Images: Meanings and Pluridiversity in the Work of Mário Vitória at the Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte, Brazil.

In 2020, he was awarded the Medal of Cultural Merit by the Municipality of Arganil.

At the invitation of the Portuguese Swimming Federation, and with the support of the Portuguese Olympic and Paralympic Committee, he created the institutional works Olympic Spirit of Swimming (for the Rio 2016 Olympic Games), Dive of an Ancestral Friendship in the Olympic Celebration (Tokyo 2020), and Dives of Rebirth: The Great Union of Shoals (Paris 2024). The latter works are displayed at the Portuguese Olympic Committee and at the headquarters of Caixa Geral de Depósitos in Lisbon.

He collaborates regularly with publishers, authors, and institutions.

 

Mário Vitória’s work is represented in numerous public and private collections both nationally and internationally, integrated into the holdings of museums, universities, libraries, schools, and foundations. His work has been exhibited in prestigious institutions such as the Dukes of Braganza Palace, the D. Luís I Foundation, the Machado de Castro National Museum, the Memorial of Latin America (Brazil), the Orient Museum, the Portuguese Olympic Committee, and the Universities of Coimbra, Porto, Trás-os-Montes and Alto Douro, and Lisbon, as well as the Amadeo de Souza-Cardoso Museum, among others.