Vicente De Rego Monteiro embarked on his artistic journey with initial studies under the guidance of his sister, Fédora, who was also a painter. His quest for artistic knowledge led him to Paris from 1911 to 1914, where he attended the Julian Academy. In 1914, he returned to Brazil, making Rio de Janeiro his home. By 1920, he had started exhibiting his watercolors in São Paulo, where he became associated with modernist figures such as Anita Malfatti, Brecheret, and Di Cavalcanti. During his time in São Paulo, he crossed paths with Pedro Alexandrino. In 1921, Vicente traveled back to Paris, leaving eight of his works in the care of the poet Ronald de Carvalho. These works would later be featured in the Modern Art Week of 1922.
Starting from the 1920s, Vicente De Rego Monteiro became increasingly immersed in the Parisian art scene. In 1930, he returned to Brazil in the company of Géo-Charles, bringing the Paris School exhibition with him. This exhibition was presented in Recife at the Teatro Santa Isabel, in Rio de Janeiro at the Palace Hotel, and in São Paulo at the Palacete Glória. He eventually settled in Pernambuco around 1932. Throughout the 1950s, he alternated between Paris and Brazil.
In 1957, he assumed a professorship at the School of Fine Arts at the Federal University of Pernambuco. Vicente De Rego Monteiro also made significant contributions as a poet, with publications in both Brazil and France. His artistic works are now housed in important collections within Brazilian and European museums. In 1971, the Museum of Contemporary Art at the University of São Paulo organized a retrospective of his work. Another retrospective was held in 1986 at the Villa Géo-Charles in Échirolles, France. In 1987 and 1994, Jean Boghici curated two exhibitions of the artist at his gallery in Rio de Janeiro. In 1997, the USP Museum of Contemporary Art inaugurated a new exhibition, curated by Walter Zanini. In the words of the poet Lêdo Ivo, Vicente De Rego Monteiro was a visionary in the realm of art who focused on the islands of transgression in the vast cultural archipelago of the universe.
