Memories in sepia

Juan Nördlinger

Juan Ricardo Nördlinger was born in Buenos Aires on 21 June 1949, and life led him down two paths that rarely meet. The first was science, as a dental surgeon, a profession devoted to restoring people’s quality of life. The second was art, which gave him a different way of thinking and of seeing the world. In Argentina, he took part in the extension programme of the Superior School of Fine Arts in Buenos Aires and, from 1997, deepened his practice in engraving with Elba Bairon and in painting and drawing with artists such as Marcia Schwartz, Jorge Pirozzi and Juan Doffo. Along the way he also explored lithography, ceramics and installation. Today he lives in Vila Nova de Gaia, where he works in his studio in Santo Ovídio. His painting starts from genres we all recognise, landscapes, still lifes, interiors, portraits and nudes, but takes them somewhere more intimate and restless. Juan always looks for a wound in the work, a tension between fading forms and moving backgrounds, transparencies that bring colour to life. The result is expressive, sensitive painting that feels familiar and, at the same time, invites us to look again. He has held solo exhibitions at the Metropolitan Museum and the Benito Quinquela Martín Museum in Buenos Aires, Galería Arcimboldo, the Corpus Christi Convent in Vila Nova de Gaia and the Casa Comum Gallery at the University of Porto, with Intimismo in 2025. He has also taken part in group shows such as the Arcos de Valdevez Arts Biennial and received distinctions at the Sívori Museum in Buenos Aires. For Juan, painting is passion. A passion that keeps him in front of the canvas, waiting for something extraordinary to happen.