This work is part of the exhibition Breviário Açoriano, which, together with the series Sinais da Matéria, constitutes the exhibition Simbologias, inaugurated on 9 October 2020, on the occasion of its donation to the Region by Carmina | Dimas Simas Lopes Contemporary Art Gallery. From that date, the gallery began to function as a branch of the Museum of Angra do Heroísmo, bearing the name of its founder, Dimas Simas Lopes.
Establishing a close intertextual relationship with António Dacosta’s Festa (1942), this painting serves as the central piece of the exhibition, where representations of ancestral symbols intersect with an iconography strongly influenced by the cult of the Divine, reflecting a perception of the sacred that is both universal and Azorean.
By contrasting the dark figure of the bull, symbolising the bestial instincts of man, with the luminous silhouette of the adorned calf, the work emphasises the redemptive power of sacrifice for the common good and spiritual progression through the renunciation of material possessions.
Dimas Simas Lopes is a distinguished visual artist from Terceira, recognised for his unique contribution to the dissemination of Contemporary Art on the island, notably through the development of Carmina Gallery (2004–2012), which, in addition to serving as an exhibition space, functioned as an arts laboratory and a hub for diverse cultural expressions.
