São Paulo Museum of Art, São Paulo, Brazil (1957)

Artist/Designer: Lina Bo Bardi

Project Location: São Paulo, Brazil

Figure 1: Stairwall ( Source | Accessed : June 28, 2023 | Photographer: Leonel Ponce )

Figure 2: Interior stairwell ( Source | Accessed : June 28, 2023 | Photographer: Juliana Magro )

Figure 3: Interior ( Source | Accessed : June 28, 2023 | Photographer: Mike Peel )

Figure 4: Human Ecosystems in Sao Paulo exhibit (2014) ( Source | Accessed : June 28, 2023 | Photographer: xdxd_vs_xdxd )

Figure 5: Human Ecosystems in Sao Paulo exhibit (2014) ( Source | Accessed : June 28, 2023 | Photographer: xdxd_vs_xdxd )

Figure 6: Auditorium in the museum ( Source | Accessed : June 28, 2023 | Photographer: Treme Terra_0249 )

Figure 7: Underneath the museum ( Source | Accessed : June 28, 2023 | Photographer: Harry Wood )

Figure 8: Exterior ( Source | Accessed : June 28, 2023 | Photographer: airbus777 )

Figure 9: Exterior ( Source | Accessed : June 28, 2023 | Photographer: Slava )

Figure 10: Ariel View ( Source | Accessed : June 28, 2023 | Photographer: Benjamin Thompson )

Style/Period(s):
Modern

Primary Material(s):
Concrete

Function(s):
Exhibition, Exhibtions: Art Gallery, Cultural Center

Related Website(s):

Museum Website | Accessed : June 29, 2023

Article about the museum | Accessed : June 28, 2023

Significant Date(s):
1950-1959, 1957, 1960-1969, 1968, 1990-1999, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000-2009, 2000, 2001

Additional Information:
Publications/Texts in Print:
Cardoso, Rafael. “Exile and the Reinvention of Modernism in Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo, 1937–1964.” In Arrival Cities: Migrating Artists and New Metropolitan Topographies in the 20th Century, edited by Burcu Dogramaci, Mareike Hetschold, Laura Karp Lugo, Rachel Lee, and Helene Roth, 193–204. Leuven University Press, 2020. https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctv16qk3nf.13.

Lima, Zeuler. “Preservation as Confrontation: The Work of Lina Bo Bardi.” Future Anterior: Journal of Historic Preservation, History, Theory, and Criticism 2, no. 2 (2005): 24–33. http://www.jstor.org/stable/25834973.

Macartney, Hilary, and Zanna Gilbert. “Lina Bo Bardi: Three Essays on Design and the Folk Arts of Brazil.” West 86th: A Journal of Decorative Arts, Design History, and Material Culture 20, no. 1 (2013): 110–24. https://doi.org/10.1086/670978.

Additional Information:
The São Paulo Museum of Art is considered to have the largest and one of the most comprehensive collections of Western art in Latin America. There are about 8,000 works in the museum. There is local Latin American art in the museum too.
From 1996 and 2001, the museum's administration greatly renovated parts of the museum, causing some controversy, as Bardi's original idea was distorted.
Since 2003, the building was protected by the Instituto do Patrimônio Histórico e Artístico Nacional (The National Historic and Artistic Heritage Institute).

Project Description:
Lina Bo Bardi wanted to create a "living museum" and the São Paulo Museum of Art was the outcome. She wanted to make a container for art, hence the simple blocky architecture that provides open floor plans within the museum. The building is supported by four red pillars, leaving an open pass under the building. The museum is made of reinforced concrete, and is one of the prime examples of Brazilian concrete modernism.
Lina Bo described the building as homey: "Concrete visible, whitewash, a flagstone flooring covering the great Civic Hall, tempered glass, plastic walls. Industrial black rubber flooring covering inner spaces. The belvedere is a 'square', with plants and flowers around, paved with parallelepipeds, according to Iberian-Brazilian tradition. There are also water spaces, small water mirrors with aquatic plants... I didn't search for beauty. I've searched for freedom".

Building Address:
Av. Paulista, 1578 - Bela Vista, São Paulo - SP, 01310-200, Brazil

Supporting Designers/Staff:

Significant Dates:
1957 - Building began
1968 - Building inaugurated
1996-2001 - Building altered by museum administration

Associated Projects:
The Glass House, Solar do Unhão, Centro de Lazer Fábrica da Pompéia, Teatro Oficina

Tags:
Art museum, Museum, Brutalist, Brutalism, Modernism, São Paulo, Brazil

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