Holbein Syndrome: Joana Coelho, Inês Mendes Leal, Maria Máximo, Inês Raposo, curated by Francisca Portugal

Only art survives everything, in the shadow or in gradations of decay, with the shades and tones of civilization, which disappears and is continually outdated. Science cries for the moon. Art pretends to cry for the moon.¹

It is not uncommon in Art History to find artistic decisions that immortalize the gesture of the creator, often transcending the original context of the work. In 1533, Hans Holbein (1497/8–1543) completed the famous painting The Ambassadors, a work that still intrigues its audience today. Holbein subverts the classical rules of painting by introducing, into a composition that exalts knowledge and science in a sober and academic universe, an unusual symbol that disturbs it. The vanitas, occupying a large area of the lower part of the canvas, evokes the ephemerality of life and the inevitability of death, and instigates a premonition—a reminder of the transience of reality, even for those who master earthly knowledge, as is the case with the portrayed subjects.

Not being the main focus of the painting, this skull has become a milestone in Art History due to its strangeness and ingenuity. In fact, despite the area it occupies on the surface, the skull is only revealed from a certain angle, through its anamorphosis and the use of rigorous perspective rules, showcasing Holbein's virtuosity. By elevating his mastery through the work to a level above that of the models, the artist places himself in a remarkable intellectual and scientific context. After all, this portrait is the only material memory left of these men, and the most relevant aspect of this record turned out not to be the original pretext for its commission. This irony, combined with the manipulation of visual elements, gives this painting an additional meaning: a provocation of the rules of representation, a challenge to the reading of History as memory, and the possible dissimulations of truth.

The question arises: why cannot Holbein's skull be the most absolute point of reality, and everything else an attempt at approximation?

This set of symptoms defines a certain condition that Holbein's legacy provokes in the artists Inês Mendes Leal, Inês Raposo, Joana Coelho, and Maria Máximo. Their works are characterized by a sense of emancipation, empowerment, and cynicism, in a constant questioning of the nature of life and an absolute belief that art expresses nothing beyond itself. This condition interrogates the vocabulary and codes of nature, viewing them as mere imitations of art.² Holbein Syndrome is the product of the artists' free will and their ability to capture intentions, desires, and intangible places, which come closer to facts than the facts themselves. Creative freedom, superior to science, history, and philosophy, interrogates the limits of illusion and falsehood, using perceptions and tricks of vocabulary and challenging the laws of the universe with such clarity that it confounds representations of reality.

¹ Free translation, Erewhon, Samuel Butler
² The Decay of Lying, Oscar Wilde