“In the year marking the 50th anniversary of the April 25th Revolution, we mourn the loss of Eduardo Gageiro (1935-2025), who since the mid-1950s documented Lisbon, both its enduring and vanished aspects, the dictatorship (including Salazar), distinguished visitors, artists, celebrities, and most notably, the revolution,” wrote Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa in a statement on the website of the Presidency of the Republic.
Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa recalls that “Salgueiro Maia, on April 25, 1974, recognized the photojournalist from O Século Ilustrado and granted him access to the sites where events were unfolding.”
“Our visual memory of April 25th owes much to Gageiro’s photos, who also worked for the Associated Press, the Presidency of the Republic, and the Parliament, receiving accolades like the World Press Photo,” continued the President of the Republic.
“Above all else,” Eduardo Gageiro “became internationally associated with the images, remarkable images, of both old and modern Portugal.”
“I pay him my tribute,” Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa concluded.
Born in Sacavém in 1935, Eduardo Gageiro leaves behind a vast archive documenting the political, social, and cultural realities of the country, various lifestyles, and diverse personalities, spanning from the 1950s to the present.
During the dictatorship, he captured images of the dire conditions in which much of the Portuguese population lived, experiencing several arrests by PIDE due to ‘inconvenient’ images to the regime.
An office worker at the Sacavém Pottery Factory between 1947 and 1957, “he mingled daily with painters, sculptors, and factory workers, who influenced his decision to pursue photojournalism,” as stated in the biography available on his website (http://www.eduardogageiro.com/).
Gageiro published his first photograph at the age of 12 in Diário de Notícias, “as a front-page honor,” commencing his reporting career at Diário Ilustrado in 1957.
Throughout his career, he worked for the magazines O Século Ilustrado, Eva, Almanaque, Match Magazine, served as a correspondent for the Associated Press in Portugal, was an editor at Sábado magazine, and maintained a long career as a freelancer.
Eduardo Gageiro was honored as a Commander of the Order of Infante D. Henrique and Knight of the Order of Leopold II of Belgium.
Among his career distinctions is the World Press Photo in 1975 for an image of António de Spínola, in the foresight of imminent defeat, with the passage of History.
He was named an “honorary member” of the Fotokluba Riga (former USSR), the Natron Photoclub, and Novi Sad (former Yugoslavia), the Österreichische Gesellschaft für Photographie in Austria, and received the excellence award from the Fédération Internationale de l’art Photographique (FIAP) in Bern, Switzerland.
At the Second International Congress of Photographic Reporters held in São Paulo, Brazil, in 1966, he was appointed vice-president of the organization.
Honorary Master Photographer of the Association of Professional Photographers since 2009, he is the only Portuguese with a photograph on permanent display at the House of European History in Brussels since 2014, his biography indicates.
Earlier this year, the Torres Vedras City Council acquired the photographer’s archive, which had already been under its care and preservation.
Until September 13, the ‘Through the Lens of Freedom’ exhibition, featuring this archive, is on display at the Galeria Municipal de Torres Vedras.
