The artistic trajectory of Pedro Américo begins very early. At only 10 years old the young artist was admitted to the body of members of the artistic and scientific mission that the naturalist Louis Jacques Brunet carried out in the Brazil's Northeast. He moved to Rio de Janeiro in 1854 and, in the following year, attended the Imperial Academy of Fine Arts. Thanks to grant for artistic improvement awarded by Dom Pedro II, Américo was able to practice painting in Paris, where he remained from 1859 to 1864. He was a professor of the Imperial Academy of Fine Arts, a position he held until 1866. The artist was notable for his historical paintings, being “Independência ou morte” (Acervo do Museu Paulista), 1988, the best known of them. Between paintings and drawings on paper, Pinacoteca brings together 13 works by the artist.