Mário Cesariny de Vasconcelos was born on August 9, 1923, in Lisbon. He was a poet, painter, and translator, and is considered one of the great masters of Portuguese Surrealism.

He attended the António Arroio School of Art (1936–1943), where he met António Domingues, Cruzeiro Seixas, Fernando de Azevedo, Fernando José Francisco, José Leonel Martins, Júlio Pomar, Pedro Oom, and Marcelino Vespeira. Along with these young artists, who fostered the Surrealist movement, he gathered for Dada-style gatherings at Café Herminius in Lisbon.

In 1947, he traveled to the French capital, where he met with members of the French Surrealist group, notably André Breton, Victor Brauner, and Henri Pastoureau. That same year, he joined the Lisbon Surrealist Group alongside Alexandre O’Neill, António Domingues, António Pedro, Fernando de Azevedo, João Moniz Pereira, José-Augusto França, and Marcelino Vespeira, whose goal was to protest against the political regime then in power in Portugal and against the dominant poetic trends of the time.
Following disagreements with the Lisbon Surrealist Group, he broke away and founded the dissident group *Os Surrealistas*, consisting of Cruzeiro Seixas, Pedro Oom, António Maria Lisboa, Mário Henrique Leiria, Carlos Eurico da Costa, Fernando Alves dos Santos, Fernando José Francisco, and Henrique Risques Pereira. The group organized two group exhibitions in Lisbon, at the Pathé-Baby Screening Room ( 1949) and at the A Bibliófila Bookstore (1950).

Mário Cesariny distinguished himself in visual Surrealism through his pioneering work in introducing new techniques, exploring materials, and infusing his art with humor, irony, criticism, irreverence, and drama. Despite distancing himself from Surrealist groups, Mário Cesariny continued to forge a brilliant career, acting as a driving force and promoter of various exhibitions in Portugal and abroad, and establishing international contacts, notably with the Phases group. His individual and collective career was marked by numerous exhibitions, notably the organization of the exhibitions *Surrealism* and

Fantastic Painting (Lisbon, 1984) and First Exhibition of Surrealism or Not (S. Mamede Gallery—Lisbon, 1994).
He published numerous works that established him as the author of one of the richest and most complex literary bodies of our time. Among his extensive literary output, the following publications stand out: *Visible Body* (1950); *Discourse on the Rehabilitation of Everyday Reality* (1952); *In Praise of and Simplification of Álvaro de Campos* (1953); Manual of Sleight of Hand (1956); Capital Punishment (1957); Some Greater Myths and Some Lesser Myths Proposed for Circulation by the Author (1958); Anthology of the Bizarre Corpse (1961); Surreal/Abjection(ism) Anthology ( 1963); The Surrealist Intervention (1966); Titania and the Burnt City (1977).
He was a fellow of the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation and was awarded the EDP Grand Prize (2002), the Literary Life Prize from the Portuguese Writers’ Association (APE)/Caixa Geral de Depósitos (CGD), and was decorated with the Grand Cross of the Order of Liberty. His life and work were chronicled in the documentaries *Autografia de Miguel Gonçalves Mendes* (2004) and *Ama como a estrada começa*, with a screenplay by Perfecto E. Cuadrado (2002).

The artist and poet enabled the Cupertino de Miranda Foundation, in Vila Nova de Famalicão, to acquire—through purchase, donation, and bequest—a large portion of his library and his artistic and documentary collection. It is with the aim of commemorating and honoring this prominent figure in 20th-century Portuguese culture that the Mário Cesariny Encounters are held annually on the anniversary of his death.
Mário Cesariny passed away on November 26, 2006, in Lisbon.

Text: Cupertino de Miranda Foundation