In a timeline format, the exhibition brings together 74 works from the MASP collection with rarely exhibited documentation from the Museum’s Research Center, including photographs, documents, posters, books, catalogues, newspapers and magazines. This selection presents the memory of the institution in a didactic and panoramic way, covering topics such as the creation of the museum, the formation of its collection, its first headquarters on 7 de abril street, the move to Avenida Paulista, as well as exhibitions and events that have made history in recent decades. The exhibition is curated by Adriano Pedrosa, Artistic Director, MASP; Regina Teixeira de Barros, Curator and Collection Coordinator, MASP; Guilherme Giufrida, Assistant Curator, MASP; and Laura Cosendey, Assistant Curator, MASP.
Histories of MASP unfolds in the exhibition hall and begins with a preamble to the meeting between Assis Chateaubriand, the businessman who ran the main media channels of the time, and the critic and art dealer Pietro Maria Bardi, the first artistic director of MASP, and Lina Bo Bardi, the architect who designed both the museum building and important exhibitions.
The Bardi couple traveled to Brazil in 1946 for the exhibition Ancient Italian Art in Rio de Janeiro, which brought together many works that later became part of the MASP collection. An example of this is Virgin and Child with the Infant St. John the Baptist (1490-1500) by Sandro Botticelli and studio, acquired at that embryonic moment in the museum’s collection, as well as paintings acquired in the early years, such as Di Cavalcanti’s Five Girls from Guaratinguetá (1930) and Paul Cézanne’s Madame Cézanne in Red (1888-90).
The founding of MASP in 1947, in the headquarters of Assis Chateaubriand’s Diários Associados, and the years that followed are recalled through the museum’s first poster, designed by Roberto Sambonet, views of the first exhibitions, and photos of the Dior fashion show held in the exhibition space itself in 1951. The exhibition also covers the period of the “great acquisitions,” between 1947 and 1958, when MASP acquired most of the works that made it the museum with the most important collection of European art in the southern hemisphere. In the 1950s, the museum held exhibitions in Europe and the United States, internationalizing the collection and promoting the work done in Brazil.
“We organized the exhibition according to the date the works were added to the collection. This tells a different story to the public, highlighting how the museum has positioned itself on this circuit and drawing the institution’s profile,” explains Guilherme Giufrida.
In addition to the collection, the exhibition explores the museum’s growing importance in the architecture, urban landscape, and political life of the city of São Paulo. Images show the construction of the iconic building on Avenida Paulista since its inauguration in the presence of Queen Elizabeth II in 1968. After more than 20 years of exposed concrete, the building’s porticoes were painted a striking red. In 1992, the demonstrations for the impeachment of President Fernando Collor de Mello in the free span reinforced the public dimension of this space for the city. At the same time, the Som do meio-dia project attracted large audiences to concerts by Olodum and Daniela Mercury.
The more recent history of MASP, from Bardi’s retirement in 1992 to the present day, is also presented in the exhibition, such as the incorporation of works to make the collection more representative and diverse. Since 2014, the museum has received donations that have increased the presence of female artists, including works by the Guerrilla Girls, Maria Auxiliadora, Adriana Varejão and Anna Maria Maiolino, among others, as well as loans such as the Landmann Collection, one of the most representative of pre-Columbian art in Brazil.
“An exhibition like this is a huge challenge... to approach the history of a museum that has been in existence for almost 80 years, with a living collection, and to try to answer the questions of art from the different periods it has gone through. We are presenting key moments in the history of MASP in a very visual way,” says Laura Cosendey.
Histories of MASP, Renoir, Geometries, Arts from Africa and Isaac Julien: Lina Bo Bardi – A Marvellous Entanglement are part of Five essays on MASP, a series of exhibitions based on the museum’s collection to inaugurate the new Pietro Maria Bardi Building.
ACCESSIBILITY
All temporary exhibitions at MASP are accessible, with free admission for people with disabilities and their companions. Visits are offered in Libras (Brazilian Sign Language) or with descriptive texts and subtitles in large print and audio-visual productions in easy language – with narration, subtitles and interpretation in Libras, describing and commenting on the spaces and works. The content, available on the museum’s website and YouTube channel, can be used by people with disabilities, students, teachers, non-literate people and the public.
PRESENTED BY
Five essays on MASP – Histories of MASP is organized by the Federal Law for Cultural Incentives and has sponsorship from AkzoNobel.
SERVICE INFO
Five essays on MASP – Histories of MASP
Curated by: Adriano Pedrosa, Artistic Director, MASP, Regina Teixeira de Barros, Curator and Collection Coordinator, MASP, Guilherme Giufrida, Assistant Curator, MASP, and Laura Cosendey, Assistant Curator, MASP.
6th Floor
Pietro Maria Bardi Building
On view: March 28–August 3,2025
MASP – Museu de Arte de São Paulo Assis Chateaubriand
Pietro Maria Bardi Building
Avenida Paulista, 1510 – Bela Vista
01310-200 São Paulo, SP
Telephone: +55 (11) 3149-5959
Hours: Free on Tuesdays from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. (admission until 7 p.m.); Wednesday and Thursday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. (admission until 5 p.m.); Friday from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. (free admission from 6 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.); Saturday and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. (admission until 5 p.m.); closed on Mondays.
Online booking required via masp.org.br/ingressos
Tickets: R$ 75 (admission); R$ 37 (students with ID)
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