Opening on January 28 and running until April 21, 2025, the Royal Academy’s Brasil! Brasil! The Birth of Modernism offers an exuberant, in-depth exploration of the artistic revolution that reshaped Brazilian art in the first half of the twentieth century. By bringing together over 130 works by ten leading Brazilian artists, the exhibition guides visitors through a vivid narrative of cultural transformation—one in which international avant-garde influences are refracted through Brazil’s uniquely diverse social fabric. From the bold colors of Tarsila do Amaral to the geometric symbols of Rubem Valentim, Brasil! Brasil! reveals how these innovators, in their quest for a distinct national identity, forged a modernism that was unmistakably Brazilian.
Curated in collaboration with Bern’s Zentrum Paul Klee—where the show originated before traveling to London—Brasil! Brasil! focuses on a sixty-year period, beginning in the 1910s and extending into the 1970s. During those decades, Brazil underwent profound cultural, political, and social changes. Having achieved republican status in 1889, the nation was determined to project an original artistic and intellectual profile on the global stage.
The curators, led by Dr. Fabienne Eggelhöfer (Zentrum Paul Klee) and Roberta Saraiva Coutinho (formerly of the Museu Lasar Segall), strike a careful balance between historical narrative and visual storytelling. Rather than following a strict chronology, the exhibition arranges its galleries in loosely thematic clusters: “Identity and Indigeneity,” “Urban Encounters,” “Tropical Abstraction,” and so on. This approach allows visitors to appreciate how each artist navigated the tension between local realities and global movements to shape what would come to be known as Brazilian modernism.
Crucially, the show includes works rarely seen outside Brazil, many of which are on loan from private collections. As a result, even seasoned admirers of Brazilian modernism will discover new insights and unfamiliar pieces. At the same time, well-chosen archival photographs, succinct wall texts, and a few short video segments deepen our understanding of the socio-historical contexts surrounding each painting or sculpture.
1. Anita Malfatti (1889–1964)
Often acknowledged as one of the earliest champions of Brazilian modernism, Malfatti electrified the São Paulo art scene with her 1917 exhibition, which shocked critics by departing from genteel, academic conventions. Drawing upon German Expressionism and Brazilian color sensibilities, she portrayed everyday subjects—shopkeepers, workers, and family gatherings—in a dynamic, forceful style. The Royal Academy’s display positions her bold brushwork alongside several European-influenced sketches, illustrating how she synthesized and then transcended foreign avant-garde paradigms.
2. Tarsila do Amaral (1886–1973)
Few figures loom as large in Brazilian modernism as Tarsila do Amaral. A centerpiece of the show is her radiant Lake (1928), in which stylized human forms frolic in a dreamlike tropical environment. Though her iconic Abaporu (1928)—the painting that inspired Oswald de Andrade’s “Cannibal Manifesto”—is absent here, similarly compelling works highlight her fusion of Cubist geometry with quintessentially Brazilian motifs. Tarsila’s vivid palette and simplified shapes unite Afro-Brazilian and Indigenous elements, fulfilling her stated ambition to be “the painter of my country.”
3. Lasar Segall (1891–1957)
Born in Lithuania and trained in Germany, Segall arrived in Brazil in the early 1920s, swiftly embracing his adopted homeland. His paintings often juxtapose European Expressionist techniques with the vibrant hues and subject matter of his tropical surroundings. In works like Boy with Geckos (1924), Segall’s lush jungle palette underscores his fascination with the country’s luminosity and diversity. One gallery is entirely devoted to his depictions of Rio’s and São Paulo’s urban outskirts, where he portrayed Afro-Brazilian and immigrant laborers with empathy and humanistic warmth.
4. Candido Portinari (1903–1962)
Although often associated with social realism, Portinari’s œuvre spans large-scale murals and intimate portraits of farmers, coffee pickers, and the rural poor. His Coffee Agricultural Worker (1934) is among the exhibition’s most powerful pieces, confronting viewers with a monumental figure set against a stark ochre-and-black background. The painting’s elongated limbs and imposing scale encapsulate Portinari’s determination to depict Brazil’s realities with both compassion and grandeur.
5. Djanira da Motta e Silva (1914–1979)
A self-taught artist of Indigenous heritage, Djanira provides a major revelation for visitors who may be less familiar with the full scope of Brazilian modernism. Focusing on everyday scenes—sugarcane harvesting, folk celebrations, domestic life—she developed a fresh visual language that blends naive charm with compositional sophistication. The bright expanses of color in Flying a Kite (1950) and Market Day (1953) capture both the energy of daily life and the artist’s avowed commitment to an art “firmly planted in the earth.”
6. Alfredo Volpi (1896–1988)
Volpi’s geometric abstractions bridge folk-art traditions and modernist experimentation. Known as the “painter of flags,” he repeatedly incorporated the triangular bandeirinhas typical of Brazilian festivals, using a refined palette to evoke a poetic sense of place. The Royal Academy’s selection highlights his evolution from representational street scenes to near-minimalist configurations of rhythmic blocks and lines.
7. Rubem Valentim (1922–1991)
An Afro-Brazilian artist deeply influenced by Candomblé iconography, Valentim introduced a symbolic lexicon of geometric forms and ritual emblems into modern abstraction. His paintings—distinguished by bold color fields arranged in totemic designs—invite viewers to contemplate syncretic faith and the spiritual dimension of Brazilian culture. The Royal Academy’s emphasis on Valentim illustrates how Brazilian modernism encompassed not only formal inventiveness but also metaphysical inquiry.
8. Flávio de Carvalho (1899–1973)
Carvalho, a performance artist, set designer, and architect, constantly pushed aesthetic and social boundaries. One section of the exhibition features photographs of his “Experiência n. 3,” during which he traversed São Paulo in a self-styled “New Look” to challenge colonial and gender norms. Nearby, Our Lady of Desire (1955) highlights his biomorphic shapes that blend human, animal, and dreamlike elements, underscoring the cross-disciplinary spirit central to Brazilian modernism.
Rounding out the list are Vicente do Rego Monteiro and Geraldo de Barros, each contributing distinct dimensions to Brazilian modernism—whether through Rego Monteiro’s synthesis of Indigenous iconography with Art Deco aesthetics or de Barros’s pioneering photographic abstractions that reflect the nation’s rapid industrial and urban development during the mid-century.
Spread throughout the Royal Academy’s Main Galleries, Brasil! Brasil! comes alive against walls painted in energetic shades of pink, azure, and earthy ochre—colors that evoke both Brazil’s lush landscapes and the dynamism of its cities. Majestic paintings, such as Portinari’s towering figures, dominate one gallery, while smaller works by Djanira and Volpi appear in more intimate clusters that illustrate their shared interest in everyday life. Bilingual curatorial texts in English and Portuguese succinctly illuminate each artist’s biography and the era’s defining moments—most notably, the watershed “Semana de Arte Moderna” of 1922.
A particularly compelling feature is the integration of archival materials from the Royal Academy’s 1944 Exhibition of Modern Brazilian Paintings. Four works from that historic show are reunited here, emphasizing the decades-long transatlantic dialogue on modern art. Photographs from the 1944 event, along with visitors’ accounts, provide a fascinating glimpse of how Brazilian modernism was initially received by British audiences.
While Brasil! Brasil! impresses with its scope—encompassing painting, sculpture, performance, and some photography—visitors keen on architectural, design, or printmaking innovations might find those areas underrepresented. Indeed, the period’s creative explosion spanned multiple media, a fact the exhibition acknowledges but only partially explores.
Additionally, the show’s vibrant palette and predominantly celebratory tone can sometimes downplay the social and political discord that underpinned much of the art. Portinari, for example, directly confronted inequality and rural hardship, but broader critiques of power structures during the Vargas era receive less attention. A deeper investigation of such themes would offer a richer understanding of the complexities that helped shape Brazilian modernism.
Even so, Brasil! Brasil! brilliantly captures the mosaic-like vitality of twentieth-century Brazilian art. By highlighting a broad range of identities—Indigenous, Afro-Brazilian, immigrant, and European-born—the exhibition demonstrates how Brazilian modernism emerged through what the poet Oswald de Andrade called a “cannibalistic” process: devouring European influences and synthesizing them into creations steeped in local narratives, folklore, and aspirations.
From Tarsila’s fantastical tropics to Djanira’s warm portrayals of working-class life, each gallery exemplifies how artists responded to the call to paint, sculpt, and perform “a new nation.” The results are both visually dazzling and intellectually rewarding, reminding viewers that Latin American modernism was not merely an echo of Europe but rather a transformative movement in its own right.
Whether you are encountering Brazilian modernism for the first time or returning to these pioneering figures with fresh eyes, Brasil! Brasil! The Birth of Modernism makes an eloquent case for the genre’s continued relevance. Its resonant blend of local traditions, global dialogues, and creative audacity remains strikingly pertinent in an age focused on issues of identity and heritage. By offering this comprehensive panorama, the Royal Academy provides an engaging, thought-provoking window onto a truly kaleidoscopic chapter in the history of modern art.
