That’s how the light gets in - Portraits with Francisca

About murals: This artwork by Júlio Pomar can be found inside the building of the cinema Batalha in Porto. Pomar, a student in Porto when the Batalha was first built and a significant figure on the student art circuit, painted two frescoes depicting celebrations from Porto’s Feast of São João. Work on the murals was interrupted when Pomar was arrested for political reasons. They were finished once the building had already opened, only for them to be covered up again shortly after by order of PIDE, the Estado Novo secret police. Free-spirited-like figures had probably offended (or offensively excited?) António de Oliveira Salazar. After being covered for almost 75 years, the frescos have been restored as part of the 2022 renovation, allowing their vivid characters and colours to be finally visible to all.