As early as in 1932 the most well-bred critic in Brazil in the 1930s, Paulo Rossi Osir, pointed out portraiture as Portinari’s best talent. His opinion was propped on the masterpiece Portrait of Maria (1932, Museu Nacional de Belas Artes, Rio de Janeiro), that had secured for the artist a place in the crossroads articulated in the 1920s when, after Modigliani’s death, his heritage was reviewed by the great Italian masters of the Valori Plastici. In the meantime, in Germany, a number of artists were overcoming Expressionism and turning to a movement called New Objectivity (Neue Sachlichkeit).

— Unknown authorship, 1998