Provider spends 120 thousand euros on two paintings

At a time when works of art from state and private museums circulate through cultural spaces throughout the country — following the principle that it is being exhibited to people that gives value to artistic creation and collections — Maria Lúcia Amaral decided to commission an oil painting from the artist Graça Morais, for 120 thousand euros, which will be confined to the Ombudsman's Office building in Lisbon, where the overwhelming majority of taxpayers have never entered and will never enter.

Until she resigned to become Minister of Internal Administration last June, Maria Lúcia Amaral headed the Ombudsman's Office from 2017 to 2025—and since her departure, Parliament has already exceeded the legal 30-day deadline to appoint her replacement. During her term as president, in November 2023, the Ombudsman's Office moved from Rua do Pau de Bandeira, in Lapa, Lisbon, to the Vilalva Palace, on Rua Marquês de Fronteira, in the São Sebastião neighborhood.

It is in this building, the former headquarters of the Army's territorial command, that Graça Morais' painting will be exhibited. "The work is currently being created and will be installed in the Vilalva Palace, having also been conceived with the aim of enhancing this state building, defining and enriching the space's presentation and decoration," an official source from the Ombudsman's Office explained to Nascer do SOL this week.

Maria Lúcia Amaral awarded the contract through a direct award, meaning there was no public tender. The contract is dated April 15th and is published online on the Base portal. Painter Graça Morais' name appears redacted in the contract available on that public procurement platform. However, it appears in a mandatory summary accompanying the contract.

The price of €120,000, plus VAT, includes production materials, transportation, framing, and installation of the painting. According to the contract, upon signing in April, the artist received 40% of the total, or €48,000. The remainder will be paid upon delivery.

"The acquisition followed a selection procedure that is not subject to competitive bidding," argued an official source from the Ombudsman's Office to explain the lack of a public tender. He emphasized that the Ombudsman's Office "guides its actions by the principles of justice and legality" and that "the choice of the artist and the terms of the contract strictly adhere to the provisions of the Public Contracts Code."

According to Graça Morais, in a telephone conversation with Nascer do SOL , the work consists of "two large canvases" that will be placed at the palace's entrance, facing the Gulbenkian Center of Modern Art. "The commissioner told me she wanted a painting that would be a tribute to April 25th, and within that theme, I was given the freedom to create. I haven't been able to do it yet because I've been sick, but the contract says I can deliver by the end of September."

According to the Ombudsman's Office, the two paintings are not related to April 25th. They are intended to "reflect the mission of this state body in serving the citizen and defending fundamental rights, as part of the celebrations of the 50th anniversary of the establishment of the Ombudsman in Portugal."

The artist emphasized that she hadn't met the current Minister of Internal Affairs until she was chosen to create the work. They met when Maria Lúcia Amaral summoned her to a meeting at the Ombudsman's Office to commission the work.

The price of 120,000 euros, Graça Morais added, "is below" what she usually charges for works of this nature. Painting prices depend heavily on the market value of each artist.

Graça Morais, 77, is one of Portugal's most renowned visual artists, with a career spanning over half a century. She has represented Portugal at the São Paulo Biennial, and her work is featured in public and private collections, including the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, Serralves Museum, Culturgest, and the Chiado Museum, among many others. Born in Trás-os-Montes, she has had a Contemporary Art Center named after her since 2008, located in Bragança, in a building designed by architect Souto Moura.

Even so, the public funds that Maria Lúcia Amaral was willing to invest can be considered extraordinary when compared, for example, with the expenditures on purchasing works for the State Contemporary Art Collection, an initiative revived in 2019 by then-Minister of Culture Graça Fonseca. The 2024 budget was 800,000 euros and resulted in the purchase of 50 works using various artistic techniques.

The State Contemporary Art Collection paid €15,000 in 2022 for an oil on canvas by Manuel Botelho, a renowned artist represented at the Gulbenkian Museum, the Chiado Museum, and the EDP Foundation. In 2023, the same State Collection purchased a 1949 oil painting by Jorge de Oliveira (1924-2012), a painter rediscovered and appreciated in recent decades, for €40,000. He participated in the first São Paulo Biennial in 1951.

When contacted, the Minister of Internal Administration did not respond to our questions.