Galeria Nuno Centeno is proud to announce a new exhibition titled Personagens e Intérpretes by the gallery’s represented artist João Penalva. 
Curated by Bruno Marchand, this exhibition celebrates Penalva’s fifty-year career as a visual artist, highlighting his transition from dance to the visual arts in London. In the mid-1990s, Penalva shifted to immersive, multi-media narratives, creating complex installations that blend text, photos, and video to merge reality and fiction.
This retrospective, hosted by Culturgest and the Galerias Municipais de Lisboa, commemorates thirty years of this narrative approach with iconic works and a special film cycle.

João Penalva (b. in Lisbon, 1949) lived in London from 1976 to 2021 before returning to Lisbon. After an early career in contemporary dance he studied at the Chelsea School of Art. He represented Portugal at the 23rd Bienal de São Paulo, the 49th Venice Biennale and in the 2nd Berlin Biennale. His work has been featured in significant solo shows at prestigious institutions, including the Serralves Museum in Porto, the Calouste Gulbenkian Museum in Lisbon, Camden Arts Centre in London, and the Ludwig Museum in Budapest. 

The opening is set to happen April 17th 2026, 10pm at Culturgest – Fundação Caixa Geral de Depósitos, Lisbon, Portugal. Visits take place from 11am to 6pm (Tuesday to Sunday), until July 12th 2026.

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