António Palolo (Portugal, 1946–2000) was one of the central figures of Portuguese art in the second half of the 20th century. A self-taught artist, he began very young, holding his first solo exhibition at the age of 17 at Galeria 111 in Lisbon, and soon took part in major shows such as the São Paulo Biennial and the decoration of A Brasileira do Chiado. His work evolved through several phases, from vibrant compositions influenced by Pop Art, to imaginary landscapes painted after his experience in the war in Angola, to the formal refinement of stripes and a later return to figuration in the 1980s. In 1995, he was the subject of a major retrospective at the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation’s Modern Art Center, which confirmed the significance of his career. Palolo died prematurely in 2000, at the age of 54, but remains an essential reference in contemporary Portuguese painting.