Short version: Fernando Pessoa is Lisbon’s great poet, and he was never just one person. He wrote as dozens of invented writers, each with a name, a life and a style. We drew him in a single line, which felt like the right amount of ink for a man who was already so many people.
Who was Fernando Pessoa?
Fernando Pessoa (1888–1935) was a Portuguese poet and writer, born in Lisbon. He spent part of his childhood in Durban, South Africa, came back to Lisbon at seventeen and hardly left the city again. He worked as a commercial correspondent, translating business letters, and wrote at night, in cafés and in rented rooms. He published very little while he was alive. After he died, a trunk was found full of manuscripts, and it is still being studied today.
Today he is one of the most read writers in the Portuguese language, and one of the faces of Lisbon: glasses, moustache, hat, always slightly out of the frame.
Why did Pessoa have so many names?
Because he did not write only as himself. He invented heteronyms: full writers with their own biographies, opinions and ways of writing. The best known are three. Alberto Caeiro, a shepherd-poet from the countryside who looked at things exactly as they are. Ricardo Reis, a doctor with a love of the classics. Álvaro de Campos, a restless naval engineer, modern and loud. There is also Bernardo Soares, the quiet office clerk behind The Book of Disquiet.
They argued with each other, reviewed each other and had their own birthdays. Álvaro de Campos put it in one line that still does the rounds: “Tenho em mim todos os sonhos do mundo”, I have in me all the dreams of the world.
Where can you find Pessoa in Lisbon?
- A Brasileira, in Chiado. A bronze Pessoa sits at a table outside the old café, and there is usually a queue to sit next to him. It is a short walk from our Trindade and Chiado stores.
- Martinho da Arcada, in Praça do Comércio. One of the oldest cafés in the city and one of his regular tables.
- Casa Fernando Pessoa, in Campo de Ourique. The building where he lived for the last fifteen years of his life, now a house of poetry.
- Jerónimos Monastery, in Belém. Where he has been buried since 1985, fifty years after his death.
Why did we draw Pessoa in one line?
Every Contrast drawing comes with a short story. This is the one behind the Pessoa Sketch:
The man with many faces. Pessoa didn’t live just one life, he lived dozens. He became an engineer, a doctor of classics, and a shepherd-poet. Each one had a voice, a soul, and even their own birthday. He wasn’t hiding behind masks. He was multiplying himself to see the world in more ways than one. It’s a matter of perspective. And Contrast.
A man who was so many people did not need a detailed portrait. A hat, the glasses, the moustache, one continuous line: enough for anyone who knows Lisbon to recognise him, and quiet enough for anyone who does not to simply like the drawing.
Where can you find the Pessoa Sketch t-shirt?
- Pessoa Sketch Graphic T-Shirt in Indian Grey
- Pessoa Sketch Graphic T-Shirt in Lilac Dream
- Pessoa Sketch Graphic T-Shirt in Heritage Brown
All three are 100% GOTS organic cotton, 180 gsm, unisex, designed in Lisbon and printed in Portugal.
Is a Pessoa t-shirt a good gift from Lisbon?
For someone who reads, yes. For someone who has sat next to the bronze Pessoa at A Brasileira and pretended to be deep in conversation, even more so. It is a Lisbon reference that does not need a postcard to explain it.
You can find the Pessoa Sketch in our three stores in central Lisbon: Chiado, Trindade and Sé, open every day from 10am to 7pm (closed for lunch from 1pm to 2pm). Or read the story behind the three sardines, next door in the Lisbon Journal.
