Brazil in Venice, Bern and London

From left to right:
1. Lasar Segall. Mulato II, um 1924
Oil on canvas. 64,3 x 45,5 cm. Private collection
2. Djanira da Motta e Silva. Três orixás, 1966
Oil on canvas. 130,4 x 195,5 cm. Collection of the Pinacoteca do Estado de São Paulo, purchased by the Governo do Estado de São Paulo, 1969
© Instituto Pintora Djanira
3. Flávio de Carvalho. Ascenção definitiva de Cristo, 1932
Oil on canvas. 75,5 x 62 cm. Collection of the Pinacoteca do Estado de São Paulo, purchased by the Governo do Estado de São Paulo, 1969

Brasil! Brasil! The Birth of Modernism

7.9.2024-5.1.2025

The 2024 Venice Biennale is linked to Brazil on several levels. From 7 September 2024, the Zentrum Paul Klee is devoting to the country the large-scale exhibition Brasil! Brasil! The Birth of Modernism, which is organised in collaboration with the Royal Academy of Arts in London.

As the first curator based in the southern hemisphere, Adriano Pedrosa is curating the 60th International Art Exhibition. Pedrosa is the director of the Museu de Arte de Sao Paulo. It is from the holdings of this museum that the Zentrum Paul Klee is being loaned several masterpieces for its major autumn exhibition Brasil! Brasil! The Birth of Modernism. Six of the artists of whom works are being shown in the exhibition are also represented in the Biennale.

Brasil! Brasil! The Birth of Modernism will be on display in Bern from 7 September 2024 to 5 January 2025. The exhibition will then travel to the Royal Academy of Arts in London.

About the exhibition
At the beginning of the 20th century, Brazil was a young nation in search of its own identity. The population was made up of different indigenous groups, former slaves, colonists and migrants from the whole of Europe and Japan. A great variety of cultures met in this context. Art was in a state of upheaval too, and artists were looking for their own modern artistic expressive forms. Their references were the European avant-garde - including Paul Klee - and their own indigenous and Afro-Brazilian cultures.

The exhibition at the Zentrum Paul Klee shows various ways in which Brazilian artists developed their own modern pictorial languages. Alongside works by ten artists it presents an introduction to formative political and economic events as well as milestones in the country's literature, music, design and architecture.

Exhibited artists:
Tarsila do Amaral (1886-1973)*
Anita Malfatti (1889-1964)*
Lasar Segall (1891-1957)
Alfredo Volpi (1896-1988)*
Vicente do Rego Monteiro (1899-1970)
Flavio de Carvalho (1899-1973)
Candido Portinari (1903-1962)*
Djanira da Motta e Silva (1914-1979)*
Rubem Valentim (1922-1991)*
Geraldo de Barros (1923-1998)

* exhibited at the Venice Biennale

Opening
The opening of the exhibition will take place on Friday, 6 September 2024, from 6 pm.
Admission to the exhibition is free on this evening.

Curators
Fabienne Eggelhofer, Zentrum Paul Klee, Bern, and Roberta Saraiva Coutinho, Sao Paulo, with Adrian Lock, Royal Academy of Arts, London

Cooperation
The exhibition is organised by the Zentrum Paul Klee, Bern in collaboration with the Royal Academy of Arts, London, where it will be on display from 28 January until 21 April 2025.

Concert
On Saturday, 21 September 2024 at 6 pm, a Bossa Nova concert with Jenny Chi & ChiBossa will take place at the Zentrum Paul Klee in the context of the exhibition.