Painter. She is recognized as a 20th century Portuguese painter, whose paintings were of the rural countryside near her home in the Minho in Northern Portugal and of portraits of peasants. Although her most recognized pieces were painted in the late 1930s, she had exhibitions in Paris earlier in the late 1920s. Her career faded until her paintings were on displayed in 2019 at Calouste Gulbenkian Museum in Lisbon and in 2020 the National Museum of Contemporary Art in Chiado. Born the eldest daughter of 6 siblings, her father, Francisco Marcelino Afonso, was an infantry sergeant in the military. Her early education was provided by Roman Catholic nuns. In an era when parents were concerned with their daughters being exposed to nude male models, she wanted to be a painter. Her art education began in 1915 at the Fine Arts School, studying under Columbano and graduating in 1922. She was the last student of Columbano. Upon graduation, she went to Paris for eight months studying at the Académie de la Grande Chaumière. She studied paintings in the Louvre and having social connection with other artists, she attended many exhibitions. While in Paris, she posed for her abstract bust, which was created by the self-taught Spanish-born Parisian sculptor Mateo Hernández. Later, she would use a photograph of her bust for the cover of her exhibition programs. While earning an income as an illustrator for children's books, her pieces were part of the 1st and 2nd Autumn Salon of the National Society of Fine Arts Exhibitions of 1925 and 1926. After returning home, she had a well-received 1928 solo exhibition at the Salon Bobonne in Lisbon before returning to Paris. In 1929 she was forced to return to Portugal as her mother had died and she was ill. Upon returning to the more conservative Portugal, she lost the freedom that a woman in Paris enjoyed. There was no more money for her to return to Paris. When needed, she made an income as a seamstress producing embroidery pieces along with ceramics and tiles. In the fall of 1933, she returned to her hometown village in Minho, beginning to paint rural scenes. With critics always being kind toward her work, a bold child-like style with oils of primary colors was easily recognized as hers. On March 31, 1934, she married painter Almada Negreiros. After the couple had a son and a daughter, she almost completely abandoned her artist career by 1939 for the role of a wife and mother. She became to be known as Almada Negreiros' wife. Never making any profit from her exhibition, she continued with showings at "Independent Artists Salon" in 1930 and 1931; "Winter Salon" in 1932; and the "Modern Art Exhibition" in 1936, 1940, 1942, 1944, and 1945. In 1944 she was awarded the Souza-Cardoso Prize for "Portrait of the Son," a primitive painting of a nude male infant. In 1953 she had a display at the 2nd Biennial of the Museum of Modern Art in São Paulo and her first retrospective exhibition at Galeria de Março in Lisbon. As a widow, she placed second in 1978 with her exhibition at Galeria Dominguez Alvarez in Porto. By the 1950's she returned to illustrating children's books. For her artist talents, the 16th President of Portugal, António dos Santos Ramalho Eanes, honored her in June of 1982 with the Order of Saint James of the Sword. Among her other paintings, she painted her self-portrait in 1927, and in 1934 using graphite on paper, she drew a self-portrait of herself nursing her son. Her 1924 painting, "Anémonas," which was painted while she was studying in Paris, is on display at the Museu do Chiado in Lisbon.