MARIA SASSETTI

Sassetti holds a degree in Painting from the Faculty of Fine Arts at the University of Lisbon and continued her training in London at the Chelsea College of Art and Design. Since 2008, she has participated in various exhibitions, including solo, collective, and collaborative projects, developing works mostly on paper. Her body of work speaks about identity, emotion, ritual, and fragility through installations of drawing, painting, light, and objects. In 2015, she founded Atelier Contencioso, with which she participates in large-scale interventions in public spaces, notably the work “Our Ground Has Dreams and Desires,” exhibited in 2025 at Cultural Center Carpintarias de São Lázaro, Lisbon, PT.

She did an internship at the Wave Hill Cultural Center in New York in 2011, where she was part of the curatorial team. She has, too, 13 years of experience in art education. Her work is represented in several public and private collections, both national and international, e.g. the Vasco Collection, Lisbon, PT; The Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University Collection, Philadelphia, PA, USA.; Jens Myhren Thompson Collection, DK; Col. Fernando Figueiredo Ribeiro, Quartel das Artes, Abrantes, PT; Col. Casa-Museu Medeiros e Almeida, Lisbon, PT; Col. do Museu da Carris, Lisbon, PT; Col. Sonae Sierra - Centro Colombo, Lisbon, PT; and Col. Universidade de Belas-Artes, Lisbon, PT, as well as having a good presence in private collections in Portugal, Spain, the United Kingdom, France, Belgium, Luxembourg, Switzerland, Italy, Denmark, Sweden and the USA.

She also has exhibited individually and collectively, at museums and institutions, e.g., at Drexel University Museum of Natural History, Philadelphia, PA, USA, Chelsea College of Art and Design, London, UK, Fundación Pons, Madrid, ES, the MNAA National Museum of Ancient Art, Lisbon, Portugal, the Museum Coleção Berardo (now MAC/CCB), Lisbon, PT, the Carpintarias de São Lázaro Cultural Center, Lisbon, PT, the Oliva Creative Factory, S. João da Madeira, Portugal, and the National Society of Fine Arts, Lisbon, PT.

Her work typically involves delicate, intricate drawings and installations on paper that invite viewers into a contemplative space where the fragility and texture of paper become central themes. This aligns with her broader exploration of materials and light, often blending the boundaries between drawing, painting, and installation art.

She is represented by Galeria Tönnheim (Madrid, ES / Malmö, SE) and now also by Galeria Belo-Galsterer in Lisbon.