1944: Raúl Perez, born in Minho, held his first exhibition at the age of 28.

Linked to the Portuguese surrealist current, in particular Cruzeiro Seixas, Raúl Perez manages to include himself in this continuity and, at the same time, free himself from it.

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With works exhibited at the São Mamede Gallery in 1972, 1982 and 1985, he also participated in several exhibitions organized by the writer and painter Mário Cesariny (1923-2006).

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Surrealism is, of course, a structuring reference in the work of Raúl Perez, but with the late arrival of this artistic movement in Portugal, it had a very residual expression here. A controversial and contested character, Mário Cesariny believed that «the absence of structuring gave Portuguese surrealism an enormous external vitality» and stressed that in Portugal there had never been a surrealist movement, not even in the year of public existence (1948-1949) of the Surrealist Group of Lisbon. This one, after the publication of four pamphlets, a public demonstration and a painting exhibition, ended up being extinguished, giving way to another group that would also disappear shortly afterwards. «Portuguese surrealism lived and died, without any doubt, clandestinely.»

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Raúl Perez is, of course, heir to this history, even if he fits, above all, in that current celebrated by André Breton, that of «magical art». Dreams transformed into appearance and substance, his works, simultaneously disturbing and perfect, are based on the materialization of bewitchment.