‘Tarsila do Amaral. Painting modern Brazil’ at the Musée du Luxembourg: first retrospective of her work in France

A visionary artist

Tarsila do Amaral is one of Brazil's most influential and beloved artists. From the 1920s onwards, she established herself with an original style, drawing on the indigenous imagination and the modernising transformations of her country.

At a time when Brazil occupies an increasingly important place in the discourse of ‘globalised’ art, and when women artists are beginning to reclaim their place in the narratives of art history, this retrospective is an exceptional opportunity to explore the richness and diversity of her work.

Multi-faceted masterpieces

Trained in Paris, where she rubbed shoulders with the European avant-garde, Tarsila do Amaral created a unique pictorial language combining Cubism and Primitivism with Brazilian influences.

The exhibition features major works from the ‘Pau Brasil’ and ‘Anthropophagic’ movements of the 1920s, in which brightly coloured landscapes alternate with mysterious, fantastical visions.

In the 1930s, her paintings became political, then progressively geometric and abstract in the 1960s. Beyond its aesthetic dimension, Tarsila do Amaral's work raises social and identity issues.

The artist invites us to rethink the divides between tradition and the avant-garde, learned and popular cultures.

Join us on 9 October at the Musée du Luxembourg to discover the artistic evolution of a Brazilian legend in Paris!