Lopes' work displays a deep African sensibility with saturated colours and bold compositions of mask-like figures and geometric forms.

[1] Lopes was born in Maputo (formerly known as Lourenço Marques), Mozambique, on July 11, 1924, to an African mother, whose family was locally known, and a Portuguese father, who was a fieldworker.

[1] Around that time she met artists such as Marcelino Vespeira, Carlos Botelho, Albertina Mantua, Costa Pinheiro, Júlio Pomar and Nuno Sampayo.

[5] In 1956, Lopes painted a mural called "Pavilhão da Evocação Històrica" which was inaugurated on the occasion of an official visit of António de Oliveira Salazar to Maputo.

During those times she befriended some of the protagonists of the Italian art scene, including Marino Marini, Renato Guttuso, Carlo Levi and Antonio Scordia.

Lopes’ work was also deeply influenced by the political events that affected her home country, in particular during the period that followed the independence and the civil war between FRELIMO and RENAMO.