Early Life, Family and Training Bertina Lopes was born on July 11, 1924, in Lourenço Marques, Mozambique. Her lineage reflected the complex social fabric of the region, born to a Portuguese father and an African mother. This dual identity would later inform the visual language of her work, but her earliest years were defined by the foundational education she received in Lourenço Marques. Seeking to complete her secondary schooling, she relocated to Lisbon. It was in the Portuguese capital that her formal artistic training began to take shape. She studied painting and drawing under the guida…