Disclosing the Ultimate Mediterranean Cubist Village: Identity and Politics in Eduardo Viana’s Olhão Landscapes

This article studies the early 1920s Olhão views painted by Eduardo Viana (1881–1967). It analyses Viana’s turn to Algarvian-Mediterranean landscapes, while considering the emergence of Olhão as the Portuguese “cubist village” rendered just before its regionalisation by the fascist cultural industry. I contend that Viana’s vistas stem from his cosmopolitan profile and earlier avant-garde experiences, suggesting also that Olhão’s Mediterranean “cubist”- built environment offered Viana the prospect of a denationalised geography. The relationship between identity, place and politics will therefore be discussed.