I love listening. It is one of the only spaces where you can be still and moved at the same time. — Nayyirah Waheed — Thursday May 9th — —

The idea is to die young as late as possible. — Ashley Montagu — Thursday May 9th — —

“What art does — maybe what it does most completely — is tell us, make us feel that what we think we know, we don’t. There are whole worlds around us that we’ve never glimpsed.” Greil Marcus — Thursday May 9th — —

Walter Rosso & Casa da Diná

Last few days we stayed in Alentejo’s countryside, close to the beautiful beaches of the southwest Portuguese coast, at Casa da Diná. A bed & breakfast run by the Portuguese and Uruguayan couple Dina Medeiros and Walter Betbeder Rosso. Traveled the world themselves they decided to set home at Malavado and combine Walter’s atelier with this lovely bed & breakfast of four double rooms, a delicious homemade breakfast and now and then a dinner to share Dina’s love for Portuguese cuisine.

While enjoying this lovely place, we got inspired by the works of Walter and his atelier. The beautiful earth-toned palette, the geometrical forms, simplicity and cubist style in contrast to his palettes incorporated in this world of simplicity.

Born in Montevideo, Uruguay, Walter moved to Washington DC, met Dina and together moved to Portugal. As a young man he received artistic guidance from José Gurvitch and Jorge Damiani. In 1970, Walter set up a studio with fellow artist Héctor del Castillo, and from 1981 to 1992 he belonged to the studio Taller de Puerto, in Montevideo. His paintings have been exhibited in galleries in Uruguay, United States and Portugal.

We love the combination of geometrical paintings with his palettes as ‘random’ and unconscious paintings. In his own words:

If we set aside speculation and accept that painting is the art of organising coloured matter on a supporting plane, and that surrealism is governed by the subconscious, the painter’s palette could be a direct surrealistic ‘work’: it bypasses the filter of reason.

— Walter Rosso, for Fernando Pessoa, thinking is a disease of the eye.

If you want to buy his work, you’ll need to visit Casa da Diná. And if you want to visit Casa da Diná, you’ll probably leave with a work of Walter in your suitcase!