The National Society of Fine Arts (SNBA) is an association of public benefit resulting from the merger of the Artistic Grémio and the Promotion Society of Fine Arts in 1901. Since 1913 it occupies a beautiful building at Rua Barata Salgueiro, designed by the architect Álvaro Machado.

 

Created by the will of naturalism artists, SNBA, with Venus de Milo as its symbol, has always sought the defense of art and of the artists' rights, promoting arts education, performing exhibitions and conferences, integrating juries, collaborating with other cultural institutions, as well as many other cultural-oriented and artistic initiatives.

 

SNBA has been the scene of major battles between art, culture and politics for over a hundred years and has remained a democratic pillar in the national art scene, projecting its action in defense of freedom of expression and current art.

 

Painters, sculptors, architects, designers, photographers, historians and art critics, who have distinguished themselves on the national scene, are among those who make the history of contemporary art to blend with the history of SNBA and its activity.