The public works policy during the Estado Novo regime

In 1932, the establishment of the Ministry of Public Works and Communications (MOPC), led by engineer Duarte Pacheco (1899-1943), ensured the centralization of a vast process, for which administrative boards, delegations and committees were created, either autonomous or under the jurisdiction of the General Directorate of National Buildings and Monuments, but always dependent of the MOPC. The longevity of this “public works policy” followed that of the Estado Novo itself, functioning as one of the main tools for the regime’s affirmation, consolidation and relegitimization. It is undeniable that there was not only architecture in, but also of, the Estado Novo, which is, in fact, easily recognizable in the country’s various regions.

The regime’s ample investment in public works meant an unprecedented bounty of job opportunities for architects, a small socio-professional elite group, compulsorily unionized, like other professional associations, in 1933. In the early 1930s, the regime’s bet fell on the recent generation of architects that had graduated in the 1920s and included names such as Porfírio Pardal Monteiro, Carlos Ramos, Jorge Segurado, Cottinelli Telmo or Cristino da Silva.

The transformation of the country resulting from the Estado Novo’s “public works policy” was touted as the proof of a “national resurgence.” Visual artists, too, found job opportunities in the public works sector, playing a less prominent role as “decorators” and being subjected, like any other professionals in the cultural field, to institutional constraints. The visual arts helped to disseminate the Estado Novo’s ideology, exploring themes that were mainly historicist and nationalist, and using a naturalistic language or a restrained and conventional modernism. Almada Negreiros’ mural paintings at the maritime stations were the rare exception.

Text by Joana Brites