Zé Júlio, José Júlio Ferreira, was born in 1925, in Caldas da Rainha.

From the year 1949 he lived in Moçambique, and worked as a lighthouse keeper and for this very reason he is a lighthouse keeper. Often remembered as the "lighthouse-painter" in Mozambique before independence to develop simultaneously several disciplines of an artistic nature such as painting, sculpture, ceramics, photography and dance.  During the course he was a student and pupil of João Ayres and spent time with great artists of the time, such as João Ayres. the case of the painter Malangatana.

His first solo exhibition took place in 1960. But there was already another solo exhibition. exhibited in a collective with artists such as Rui Amaro and Álvaro Passos, at the João Ayres school, in 1958.

 From 1977 onwards he returned to Portugal and took up residence in Lisbon.

Your work is ready. included in the book "Art and Museums in Moçambique" by Alda Costa.