Retrato de Maria, esposa do artista (1932) by Candido PortinariMuseu Nacional de Belas Artes
The National Museum of Fine Arts (MNBA), heir of the bicentennial collection of the Imperial Academy of Fine Arts Pinakotheque, comprises one of the pillars of national memory. A reference in the field of museology and history of art, its collection precedes by far the historical circumstance which gave rise to it.
Following its creation in 1937, its collection was superlatively expanded, being currently internationally recognized.
The MNBA Portinari collection goes through the historical path of his artistic production.
“Every time I visit the MNBA, I always entertain
the same emotion. I feel my father’s spirit walking those corridors, I see his shadow on the walls, I imagine his struggle to learn the art of painting... No doubt, the MNBA is the 'home of Portinari', where he dedicated the best of his endeavors, at the cost of much dedication and sacrifice, driven by his passion for painting, by his uncommon talent”. João Candido
Retrato de Olegário Mariano (1926) by Candido PortinariMuseu Nacional de Belas Artes
"Portinari arrives in Rio, at age 16, when MNBA was still the National School of Belas Artes (ENBA). In 1920, the shy boy, still rooted in his yokel roots and living under extremely precarious conditions, joins ENBA, there remaining until 1929. Almost 10 years!”.
Portrait of Olegário Mariano (1928) by Candido PortinariMuseu Nacional de Belas Artes
In 1928, Portinari wins, in 35th General Exhibition of Fine Arts, the coveted Overseas Travel Award, with the Retrato de Olegário Mariano
Retrato de Olegário Mariano (1931) by Candido PortinariMuseu Nacional de Belas Artes
In the 1930s, Portinari continued to make portraits of friends and various Brazilian personalities.
Retrato de Homem (1932) by Candido PortinariMuseu Nacional de Belas Artes
Retrato de Renato Rabech (1932) by Candido PortinariMuseu Nacional de Belas Artes
Café (1935) by Candido PortinariMuseu Nacional de Belas Artes
Among MNBA’s treasures, one also finds, in a prominent place, the painting Café, the first work from Brazilian modernism to win a prize overseas, the Second Honorable Mention at the Carnegie Institute exhibition in Pittsburgh, United States, in 1935.
Candido Portinari is the Brazilian artist with the greatest number of individual exhibitions at the MNBA. The first, held in 1939, a little after the museum had opened its doors was, no doubt, a notable cultural event, in addition to having been the largest exhibition of the works of this great artist until our days.
Four years later, the MNBA hosted a new individual exhibition of Portinari’s work, smaller than the previous one, but received with enthusiasm by the public and specialized critics.
Menino de Brodósqui (1951) by Candido PortinariMuseu Nacional de Belas Artes
In 1972, ten years after the artist’s death, the MNBA inaugurated the Portinari exhibition, which brought together a significant number of works, being the first to be truly organized by the museum.
Three years later, in 1975, the MNBA set up the show "Análise inconográfica da pintura monumental de Portinari nos Estados Unidos", comprised of photographic panels which reproduced the frescoes of the Hispanic Foundation of the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C. (1941–1942), and the gigantic panels "Guerra and Paz", which, since 1956, decorate the lobby of the United Nations Organizations (UN), in New York. The exhibition concept and all photographic images were carried out by the great researcher and art critic Clarival do Prado Valladares (1918 – 1983).
In 2013, MNBA conceived two exhibitions involving significant works by Portinari donated to the museum: Quando o Brasil amanhecia: a Primeira Missa no Brasil vista por Vítor Meireles e Candido Portinari and the one which exhibited the four paintings decorating the Capela Mayrink, in the Parque Nacional da Tijuca, in Rio de Janeiro. .
The work, conceived to compose Oscar Niemeyer’s architectural project for the new Banco Boavista headquarters, in Rio de Janeiro, is a mural painting which re-dimensions the building inner space.
When the Capela Mayrink was renovated, in 1943, entrepreneur Raymundo de Castro Maya, the work administrator, asked Portinari to decorate it, dedicated to Nossa Senhora do Carmo, the Chapel’s patron saint. The painter conceived a triptych in which the Virgin appears in the center, sided by São Simão Stock (1165–1265) and by São João da Cruz (1548-1591).
To decorate the Chapel, Portinari painted a "Purgatório" in addition to the said triptych.
Estudo para a pintura mural "Gado", da Série Ciclos Econômicos [Palácio Gustavo Capanema, Rio de Janeiro, RJ]: chapéu e paletó (1938) by Candido PortinariMuseu Nacional de Belas Artes
In 1977, the museum held the exhibition "Portinari desenhista", which displayed 71 of his Works in this technique. Among these, of great importance and beauty, were exhibited studies for the murals of the Ministério da Educação e Saúde/Palácio Gustavo Capanema.
Grupo de homens, ilustração para o livro "O alienista", de Machado de Assis (1940) by Candido PortinariMuseu Nacional de Belas Artes
Portinari used copper in his etchings. He worked mainly with the dry-point technique
Mulher com pipa e barco (1940) by Candido PortinariMuseu Nacional de Belas Artes
“The masters made in dry-point are the most important and vigorous. In them, the artist works on or cuts the metal plate directly, allowing the spectator to notice forcefulness of his strokes”.
Anna Letycia Quadros
There are also, in the National Museum of Fine Arts collection, several metal. Of various formats and themes, these metal masters are a historical rarity which provide researchers and artists with the opportunity of knowing a hitherto little-commented part of the work of one of the greatest Brazilian artists.
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Galeria de Arte Moderna e Contemporânea no Museu Nacional de Belas Artes
Caçador de passarinho (1958) by Candido PortinariMuseu Nacional de Belas Artes
Retrato de Yedda Ovalle Schmidt (1944) by Candido PortinariMuseu Nacional de Belas Artes
Galo (1942) by Candido PortinariMuseu Nacional de Belas Artes
Draft for the "São Francisco de Assis" tile panel (1944) by Candido PortinariMuseu Nacional de Belas Artes
Another work of great importance and beauty was the panel of tiles on the facade of the Church of St. Francis of Assisi.
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Igreja de São Francisco de Assis, em Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais.
Estudo para o painel "A Tempestade Acalmada" (1955) by Candido PortinariMuseu Nacional de Belas Artes
In January of 2014 through an official donation by Finep-Inovação e Pesquisa, MNBA becomes the public institution with the greatest collection of Candido Portinari’s works. In this year, this collection is exhibited at the museum.
São José com Menino Jesus e criança (1956) by Candido PortinariMuseu Nacional de Belas Artes
Composição (1946) by Candido PortinariMuseu Nacional de Belas Artes
Composição (1946) by Candido PortinariMuseu Nacional de Belas Artes
Composição (1946) by Candido PortinariMuseu Nacional de Belas Artes
Retrato de Olga Benário by Candido PortinariMuseu Nacional de Belas Artes
Retrato de Olga Benário has been part of the National Museum of Fine Arts since January 2019.
"I tried to paint with my heart [...] o convey to the public my feeling. I brought into the picture the idea of painful dignity, of deep love, which must come from the figure of a woman who sacrificed her whole life for an ideal. The portrait belongs to Luiz Carlos Prestes. It was even made at your request. I was satisfied with the idea that I was going to paint it, because I intended to give the canvas the true meaning of D. Olga's life. No red, bloody flags. No. Only gentleness, dedication, love, and sacrifice should emerge from a portrait of Olga Benário Prestes "
Portinari, em 1945
Jornal "Folha da Noite"
Portinari: coleção Museu Nacional de Belas Artes
Idealizada especialmente para o Google Art Project, 2019.
Exposição baseada no livro “Portinari: coleção Museu Nacional de Belas Artes” publicado pelo museu, em 2014
