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Master Bessa. Photo © Rui Meireles
It's at 314 Rua do Almada that we find the studio of António Bessa - better known as Mestre Bessa - who welcomes us brush in hand, as if it were an extension of his own arm, to the sound of a Strauss waltz. He has been in this street for over 35 years, but it was only 15 years ago that he found what he calls the ‘ideal space’ that has allowed him to realise his dream of painting with his doors open to the city. ‘There are artists who prefer to work in isolation, I go to the people to find what interests me - they are my inspiration.’
He was born in the parish of Bonfim and says he's a ‘tripeiro de gema’. At the age of 71, he assures us with conviction that he is exactly where he wanted to be. "I've always loved the city and football. Everything is Porto." And it is in this closeness that the success of his work lies: ‘People pass by, take a look at the work I'm doing and give me important information.’ As happened with the portrait of Sérgio Conceição; while Mestre Bessa was thinking about where to place the football coach on the canvas, an attentive passer-by suggested: ‘He has a habit of sitting on top of the fridge.’ And so it was, with naturalness and humour.
Photo © Rui Meireles
‘My work has the hand of the people’
It was this closeness to people that also led him to paint President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa - one of the most striking works of his career. "When Marcelo was elected, I found it interesting that instead of driving to be sworn in, he walked. He walked down the street, chatted to the people he met, went for coffee at the usual place and I appreciated that. Being the people's president is being the people."
During the President's visit to Porto, when he was accompanying the Kings of Spain, Mestre Bessa bumped into him in the street. "I asked if I could give him a hug and he said yes. When he gave me that hug, I felt that it wasn't a hug from a man, but from Portugal." It was this symbolic gesture that led him to start the portrait. He painted him as the president of the people, the one of affection - ‘he dropped the solemn air of the usual portraits and placed himself at the level of the people’.
The painting was delivered on 10 June, Portugal Day. Marcelo, surprised, asked how much it cost: ‘I said to him: “My President, this costs the price of a hug”.’ And so it was that a work born in Rua do Almada entered, albeit provisionally, the Museum of the Presidency.
Work sent to Volodymyr Zelensky. Photo © Rui Meireles
When asked why he chose this profession, his answer is simple: ‘You don't choose this, an artist is born with his art and at some point something emerges and begins to materialise.’ Mestre Bessa receives many commissions, but there are some figures he decides to portray of his own free will, out of admiration. In the case of the painting of Volodymyr Zelensky, there was an urgent impulse: ‘As a European citizen, I had to do something to justify the fact that this man is dying in Ukraine at the hands of a dictator.’
There were those who didn't understand his motives. A Russian citizen passed by the studio and seeing the painting, asked him if he would also paint a portrait of Vladimir Putin. His answer was ready: "My life is painting, bring me a photograph and I'll paint it. There's just one difference: Zelensky's was offered, Putin's has to be paid for."
He also depicted António Guterres, whose painting is in the United Nations gallery, and Pope Francis, who was represented in Porto during World Youth Day - although, curiously, the Pope didn't come to Porto. "I painted it as if he had come, and I put the Clérigos in the background, with the youth all around. The painting is called Pope Francis at the Blessing of Porto and it's now in the Vatican."
All these paintings were given to the artists themselves, many of them by hand. ‘Everything I do is already destined, and I do what I can to make sure it reaches the person represented.’ Painting, for António Bessa, is a vital urgency. "I feel the need to paint, just as I feel the need to breathe. It's my oxygen."
Detail of a work made for the Church of Santa Joana Princesa in Lisbon. Photo © Rui Meireles
© Rui Meireles
Mestre Bessa paints in oil and takes an average of two or three days to do a portrait. ‘I could say it takes me longer, I have colleagues who do it, but it must be to justify the price.’ When he's between the brushes, the paints and the canvas, he lets himself be tuned into the music that the person he's portraying likes to listen to. ‘I start painting and everything flows, I get into that person's frequency.’
He is currently immersed in a demanding job: large-scale paintings for the Church of Santa Joana Princesa in Lisbon. "I had to buy scaffolding. I paint almost with my nose in the canvas. I have to climb down, stand back to look, and climb up again." The project came about in the context of contemporary, minimalist churches, which are now beginning to invite artists to fill their spaces with sacred art. ‘I was told that we were setting a precedent for the Church to call on painters again.’
Porto
Porto is always present. In the landscapes, in the portraits, in the sounds. ‘When I paint Porto, I always put on Rui Veloso's music.’ He describes a city of complicit neighbours, where salsa was ordered from window to window and where conversations took place on the rooftops. ‘I myself remember walking happily on the rooftops.’ The soul of the city is in every face, in the shared gestures, in the silent exchanges between residents.
Mestre Bessa's studio is always open. It's a space for creation, listening, observing and sharing, it's a living, collaborative showcase on Rua do Almada - where the verb to paint is conjugated with the city every day.
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