Michael Barrett, born in Paris in February 1926, was the son of an English mother and a French father. He lived in Portugal almost all his life, having chosen Cascais and Aveiro as cities of choice to reside for long periods.
In the words of gallerist Joséé Sacramento, Michael Barrett was an “artist who assumed, throughout his career, as an expressionist painter”. “His works express brilliance, movement, attractive chromaticism, technical refinement from many years of experience and deep and constant study”. A self-taught painter, Barrett was an admirer of Picasso and Matisse, and had a long exhibition career that began in 1954 and ended in 2004.
Of particular note are the solo exhibitions of 1967 at the SNBA in Lisbon, of 1970 at the Galeria Diário de Notícias, of 1971 at the Galeria do Casino do Estoril, of 1972 at the Palacio Foz, in Lisbon and in 1986, the exhibition “Controversial Portraits of Fernando / Portraits of the Impossible” at CROVAM, in Ílhavo, which was attended by the then President of the Republic, Mário Soares. Of the numerous group exhibitions that began in 1955 at the Cascais Propaganda Society, there are many participations in exhibitions and shows at the Estoril Casino Gallery (Autumn Salon and Salon ;o Primavera), at the Salão Luso-Espanhol, (Spanish Embassy, 1970), at MATUR (Madeira, in 1971), Galeria “A Grade” and “Sacramento” (in Aveiro, in numerous exhibitions), at the 1st Exhibition of Portuguese Contemporary Art (Rio de Janeiro, 1985) and in exhibitions commemorating the 500th anniversary of the discovery of Brazil, in Niterói, Rio de Janeiro (1989) and São José; dos Pinhais, Paraná (1989).
