Casa de Portinari Museum
Brodowski - SP
Installed in the house where Candido Portinari lived his childhood
and adolescence in Brodowski (SP), Casa de Portinari Museum is a
Secretariat of Culture from the State of São Paulo institution that
represents the concrete landmark of the artist’s ties with the town
where he was born, ties that are celebrated and eternalized in his
visual and poetic work.
Due to the many works in mural painting on the house walls and
a chapel in the house garden, the preservation of the complex
became essential. The first step began on December 9, 1968, when
the house was put under government trust by IPHAN (National
Historical and Artistic Asset Institute). The following year, the
property was expropriated and acquired by the Government of the
State of São Paulo and, on 22nd January, 1970, it was put under
government trust by Condephaat (Council for the Defence of
Historical, Archaeological, Artistic and Tourism Assets of the State of
São Paulo). With the efforts of the artist’s family, the city and the
state, the museum was installed and inaugurated on 14th March,
1970. The complex is composed of a main house and annexes built
successively. The typical simplicity of the countryside is the main
characteristic of the museum.
Casa de Portinari Museum’s artistic collection is mainly composed
of works done by the artist in mural paintings on the house walls in
fresco and tempera techniques. The theme is predominantly sacred,
with the exception of the artist’s early experiences in this type of art.
The collection also includes a set of drawings, an expressive and
significant language in Candido Portinari’s production present in all
moments of his career.
The museum also keeps the family’s personal-use objects,
furniture and utensils and some rooms continue with their original
functions, while others were adapted to be used as exhibition rooms.
Inside the house, the atelier - with the artist’s work objects - and the
“Capela da Nonna” (Nonna’s Chapel) - which Portinari painted to his
grandmother who couldn’t go to the church to watch the mass and
pray, as she was sick - can be highlighted.
Casa de Portinari Museum, apart from being the painter’s house
in his birthplace, was a holy refugee where Portinari used to go
searching for inspiration. At home, Candinho (his nickname) renewed
his strengths. The starry sky from Brodowski nights, the “terra roxa”
soil, the coffee plantation and the countryside full of shades and
nuances inspired his unique pallet. There, the artist was free and his
imagination could fly high like the eternized kites in his works of art.
Nowadays, through the Educational and Cultural Action Service,
the Casa de Portinari Museum develops specific project for several
types of publics. The museum also offers a permanent program full of
activities, such as “Holidays at the Museum”, “Mobile Workshops”,
“Portinari Week”, “It’s good to be a child at Casa de Portinari
Museum”, “Museums Spring” and “Black Awareness”, among others.
At public’s disposal, there is also a research room with a large
amount of material about the artist, such as books, magazines,
catalogues, national and international newspaper reports.
The museum is also accessible for disabled people, through
materials “in braile”, in relief, models and audio-guides for the blind,
as well as DVD in sign language for the deaf, and ramps to make
easier the access of people with reduced mobility or who use
wheelchairs, among others.
In May 2014, the Museum was reopened to the public after a
complete and detailed restoration process, which lasted about two
years. The works have reached the structural reinforcement of the
house built at the beginning of the 19th century through very humble
techniques, the mural paintings were completely restored and
underwent a process to stabilize their fixation to the walls of the
house and a new exhibition project, entirely new, was implemented,
highlighting the relation between Portinari and the town where he
was born. The process has revealed a previously unseen fresco, near
the house entrance house: a dark hair woman, holding a blue-eyes
baby. The attribution of the work to Candido Portinari is being
analysed by a team of experts who are also supported by the Projeto
Portinari (Portinari’s Project) staff.
The museum is managed by ACAM Portinari (Cultural Association
for the Support of Casa de Portinari Museum), a Social Culture
Organization, through an agreement with the State Government.
Besides the museum in Brodowski, ACAM also manages three other
museological units in the interior of São Paulo in a partnership with
the Secretariat of Culture from the State of São Paulo: Índia Vanuíre
Historical and Pedagogical Museum in Tupã, Felícia Leirner Sculpture
Museum and Cláudio Santoro Auditorium, both in Campos do Jordão,
and also supports the actions of SISEM-SP (State Museum System).
The patron
Son from a humble immigrant Italian family, Candido Portinari
was born in 1903, in a coffee farm in Brodowski, where his father
worked on the harvest. The rural scenery of the countryside can be
seen in the painter’s works, who got known for showing the Brazilian
man’s bitterness, especially in the issue of the coffee.
When he was just 15, he moved to Rio de Janeiro to go deeper
into his learning in painting. He won the Travel Abroad award of the
General Fine Arts Exhibit, in 1928, and, in 1935, his second
honourable mention at the international Carnegie Institute exhibit in
Pittsburgh, United States. With the panel “Tiradentes”, he received
the gold medal of the International Peace Award. Five years later, he
was awarded as the best painter of the year with the gold medal by
the International Fine-Arts Council, from New York (USA).
Over his career, Portinari made at least 5,000 works of art,
among frescos, oil paintings and drawings. Some of the most famous
ones are “Café” (Coffee), exhibited at the Museu Nacional de Belas
Artes (Rio de Janeiro), “O Lavrador de Café” (The Coffee Peasant)
and “Os Retirantes” (Migrants), both from the Museu de Arte de São
Paulo (MASP), and the panels “Guerra” (War) and “Paz” (Peace),
donated to the UNO (United Nations Organization), in New York
(USA).
Candido Portinari died in 1962, victim of intoxication from the
paints he used.
Service:
Casa de Portinari Museum
Address: Praça Candido Portinari, n° 298 – Brodowski – SP
Working hours: from Tuesdays to Sundays, from 9.00 to 18.00
Entrance fee: free
Information: (+55)(16) 3664-4284
[email protected]
www.museucasadeportinari.org.br
FACEBOOK: http://www.facebook.com/museucasadeportinari
TWITTER: https://twitter.com/casadeportinari
Press Information:
Núcleo da Notícia Comunicação Corporativa:
Phone: (+55)(16) 3237-7367/68
Dayane Malta – (+55)(16) 99233-3014
[email protected]
Juliana Dias - (+55)(16) 99233-1823
[email protected]
André Luís Rezende – (+55)(16) 98142-4299
[email protected]
www.nucleodanoticia.com.br
Secretariat of Culture from the State of São Paulo:
Jamille Menezes – (+55)(11) 3339-8243
[email protected]