Women artists and their self-portraits in the collection of the National Museum of Fine Arts

She stood out as a painter of nudes and portraits. She studied at the National School of Fine Arts, where she was admitted in 1906. She was awarded a trip to Europe in the General Fine Arts Exhibition of 1913, with the painting "Vanity" - which, like her self-portrait, is part of the museum's collection.

In 1921, she participated in the Salon des Artistes Français. Between 1924 and 1928 she participated in the Salon de la Société Nationale des Beaux Arts. In 1953 she also participated in the Salon National des Beaux Arts in Rio de Janeiro, having been awarded the gold medal that year.

She enrolled, in 1904, at the National School of Fine Arts.

In 1906, she married the painter Lucílio de Albuquerque, who had been awarded a trip abroad. In France, she studied at the École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts and at the Académie Julian.

In 1927, she became professor of drawing at the National School of Fine Arts, first as a lecturer, then as an associate professor, and finally as a full professor. From 1952 to 1954, she was director of the school, the first time a woman was appointed.

In 1927, she defined the result of her artistic creation as "impressionist", which she considered "a modern feature, something new in painting. It escapes entirely from pre-established molds. It is everything that is more moving, more sunny, less calculated and measured [...].

She began her studies in drawing and painting, in 1917, with Pedro Alexandrino, in São Paulo. In 1920, she traveled to Paris and enrolled in the Académie Julian.

She exhibited for the first time, in 1922, at the Salon des Artistes Français.

In 1923, she returned to Europe and enrolled in the Académie de André Lhote. Interested in modern art, she frequented the ateliers of cubist masters such as Juan Gris, Brancusi, Picasso, Alberto Gleize, and Leger.

That same year, she painted the Self-portrait or Le manteau rouge

She visited the Middle East and the Soviet Union, and then began to explore, in her painting, social themes, initiating the Anthropophagic phase.

She taught at the Museum of Modern Art in Rio between 1954-1959.

Her sculptures are crafted in stone and various metals, where one can notice in her works an expressionist line that is part of the new figuration movement.

In 1942, she participated in the National Salon of Fine Arts, and the following year held her first solo exhibition.


Starting in 1945, Djanira spent two years in the United States and studied several painters, such as Chagall, Miró, and Leger.

Upon returning to Brazil, Djanira reaffirms her purpose in a press interview: "back home I intend to travel around Brazil, to get to know it better, and since my destiny is to paint, I will paint everything I find.