At the back of Vasco da Gama

Jorge Vieira Man - Sun Monumental sculpture inspired by the Sun, with a vaguely anthropomorphic structure, along which angular shapes of rods and crescents rise, evoking a human figure. It is about 20 meters long, weighs 15 tons and has iron oxide as the final color. "Homem-Sol" is a kind of testament-synthesis of the work that Jorge Vieira created over a career spanning around 50 years, bringing together surrealist symbiosis with pure abstraction, primitivist schematism with three-dimensional exploration. Jorge Ricardo da Conceição Vieira was born in Lisbon on November 16, 1922 and died in Évora in 1998. He developed an artistic path marked by primitivism, abstraction and surrealism. He completed his training at the Lisbon School of Fine Arts. He began by attending the Architecture course, switching, shortly afterwards, to Sculpture. While still a student, he participated in the General Exhibitions of Plastic Arts (1947 and 1951) and became close to Surrealism. His time at the Slade School of Arts in London played a fundamental role in his training, as it provided him with direct contact with great names in sculpture such as Henry Moore, Reg Butler, among others. Furthermore, he traveled around Europe, having come into contact with the art of Picasso, Arp, Max Ernst and Victor Brauner. Returning to Portugal, Jorge Vieira developed a discreet but regular collaboration with architects (Frederico George, Conceição e Silva, Daciano Costa), creating reliefs or decorative sculptures for several buildings (on Av. Infante Santo, in Lisbon, 1957; agency gates bank Fonsecas & Burnay, in Chiado, in 1959; decorative panels for the Saldanha metro station, in Lisbon, 1996). He held his first solo exhibition in 1949 (SNBA, Lisbon). Since then, he has participated in national and international sculpture and fine arts exhibitions, was awarded prizes in fine arts exhibitions organized by the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation (1957 and 1961) and represented Portugal at the 2nd São Paulo Biennial (1953). In the 1950s, Jorge Vieira received his first recognition outside of Portugal when he was awarded a prize in a competition of great international importance, dedicated to the "Unknown Political Prisoner". This competition, promoted by the Institute of Contemporary Arts in London, saw the participation of several dozen artists of different nationalities. Jorge Vieira was the only Portuguese artist admitted to the competition, obtaining a second prize that allowed him to participate in the exhibition shown at the famous Tate Gallery. All this international prominence was not enough for the artist to be able to develop public sculpture projects, except for some sculptural sets for stores, institutions, universities and banking entities (some of these works were destroyed or are missing). Only from the 90s onwards did he develop a series of public commissions of great monumentality, such as the sculpture at the end of his career found in Parque das Nações.

A huge park and plaza dotted with pavilions, trees and avenues. In many ways epitomize both the success and failure of these post exhibition urban spaces. Be prepared for long walks to get to where you are going.

Beautiful metal work of art.

Iron sculpture; art or trash, depending on tastes or appreciations!

Homem - Sol is an amazing iron sculpture inspired by the Sun and created in the shape of Man. It is made with 15 tons of iron and has been covered in iron oxide from being exposed to the air. It is 20 meters high. Lots of other statues in the area to explore.

Interesting.

It's a cool sculpture. My father and I saw it while going on a holiday in Portugal 🇵🇹 in July 2017. It looks like a sort of tree. We're the visitors from Dublin, Ireland 🇮🇪

I like this large sculpture, which can be juxtaposed with the modern buildings here. It is a great new modern area. After leaving the old city and coming here, it did not disappoint. Everywhere is full of art, The artist my life, life is my art practice

The Steel Sun Man is a work of art located right behind the Vasco de Gama shopping center. Occasionally homeless people settle here to raise awareness of their situation.

Modern Art

Interesting iron sculpture honouring sun and man.

An interesting sculpture composition, huge in terms of size. It fits right into the image of a modern city.