Showing 1-18 of 18 results
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Centro Brasileiro de Estudos Latino Americano
Centro Brasileiro de Estudos Latino Americano (CBEAL) is a cultural and research foundation, housed in the Memorial da América Latina complex. It includes an auditorium that stages free concerts, and various interesting handicraft exhibits from regional Brazil and other Latin American countries. Cândido Portinari's painting Tiradentes hangs in the Salão de Atos, and huge panels by Carybé and Poty Lazzarotto represent the people of South America.
Read more about Centro Brasileiro de Estudos Latino Americano
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Centro Cultural Banco do Brasil
Housed in an extraordinarily and lovingly restored Beaux Arts building, the Centro Cultural Banco do Brasil holds innovative exhibitions of contemporary art as well as excellent film series and theatre performances.
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Estação Pinacoteca
A short walk west of Estação da Luz is Estação Júlio Prestes, a large and grand train station in turn-of-the-century Beaux Arts style (though it was only completed in the 1930s). One wing houses the Estação Pinacoteca, an annex of the Pinacoteca do Estado, which hosts large and often very good temporary exhibitions, mostly of Brazilian art.
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Fundação Maria Luisa e Oscar Americano
Fundação Maria Luisa e Oscar Americano, home of the couple who developed the leafy, upscale suburb of Morumbi, this house turned museum makes a fine retreat as much for its gardens as for its collection of painting, sculpture and objets d'art from the 18th to 20th centuries. The 1950s house is a small masterpiece of Brazilian modernism and there's a lovely café that serves traditional high tea.
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Instituto Tomie Ohtake
The Instituto Tomie Ohtake , is a cultural institute founded by Ruy Ohtake, São Paulo's most prominent contemporary architect. The building itself is a curving, colorful affair, perhaps not to all tastes but certainly striking. Inside, an attractive gallery space features changing exhibits of prominent, mostly local artists.
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Memorial da Liberdade
The ground floor of the Estação Júlio Prestes houses the Memorial da Liberdade, a simple but powerful exhibit occupying cells used to imprison and torture political dissidents during Brazil's military dictatorship of the 1960s and '70s.
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Memorial do Imigrante (Immigrant Memorial Museum)
For an understanding of São Paulo's diversity, the Immigrant Memorial Museum has a collection of photos, documents and period furnishings which explores migration and national identity. The biggest attraction, however, is the building. Built in 1887, it was called the Hospedaria dos Imigrantes; it functioned as a holding place for 4,000 immigrant laborers, but at times housed up to 10,000 people.
Read more about Memorial do Imigrante (Immigrant Memorial Museum)
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Museu Afro-Brasil
This remarkable museum (opened in 2004 in another winningly open Niemeyer pavilion) sheds light on the lives of Brazil's African diaspora, from slave times through the present. Its permanent collection of some 5000 objects ranges from paintings to religious objects. If you understand Portuguese, check out their fantastic website.
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Museu da Casa Brasileira
Occupying an extravagant Palladian-style villa built by a local tycoon and his wife in the 1940s, Museu da Casa Brasileira has a hodgepodge collection of Brazilian and European furnishings from the 17th to 20th centuries. The museum's café-restaurant is its best feature, with good food and lovely outdoor seating.
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Museu da Imigração Japonesa
This modest but fascinating Museum of Japanese Immigration, on the 7th floor of a Liberdade office building, documents the arrival and integration of the Japanese community. Photos, period objects and a full-scale reconstruction of a typical immigrant's farm lodging tell a poignant story, from the arrival in Santos of the first 781 settlers aboard the Kasato-Maru in 1908 through to today. Signage is in Japanese and Portuguese only.
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Museu da Língua Portuguesa
Half of Estação da Luz has been given over to this recently inaugurated Museu da Língua Portuguesa museum, with fascinating permanent exhibits documenting the rise of the Brazilian language as distinct from European Portuguese, as well as creative temporary installations celebrating Brazilian literature. Note, though, that all accompanying signs are in Portuguese only.
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Museu de Arte Contemporânea
A small branch of the University of São Paulo's Museu de Arte Contemporânea displays a rotating collection of mostly local, contemporary artists in the same Niemeyer building that houses most of the Bienal's exhibits. If the current show is not to your liking, concentrate on the building's huge spaces and Niemeyer's distinctly curving ramps.
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Museu de Arte de São Paulo (MASP)
Sampa's pride, the Museu de Arte de São Paulo (MASP) museum possesses Latin America's most comprehensive collection of Western art. Hovering above a concrete plaza that turns into an antiques fair on Sundays, the museum, designed by architect Lina Bo Bardi and completed in 1968, is considered a classic of modernism by many and an abomination by a vocal few. The collection, though, is unimpeachable, and ranges from Goya to El Greco to Manet.
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Museu de Arte Moderna
Brazil's oldest modern art museum, Museu de Arte Moderna, possesses a fine collection of Brazilian modernists such as Anita Malfatti and Di Cavalcanti as well as works by Miró, Chagall, Picasso and Dufy. However, the public spaces are devoted exclusively to temporary exhibits. Check the museum's website for current offerings.
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Museu de Arte Sacra
The best of its kind in Brazil, the Museu de Arte Sacra includes works by renowned 18th-century sculptor Antônio Aleijadinho, along with some 2000 other ecclesiastical works from the 17th to 20th centuries. The museum is housed in the 18th-century Luz monastery, which is one of São Paulo's best-preserved buildings of the period and also a fine example of Portuguese colonial architecture.
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Parque do Ibirapuera
The biggest green space in central São Paulo, Parque do Ibirapuera makes a fine escape from the city's seemingly infinite stretches of concrete. In addition, the leafy 2 sq km park serves as a thriving center of the city's cultural life, with a series of museums, performance spaces and the grounds for São Paulo's renowned Bienal.
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Pinacoteca do Estado
This elegant neoclassical Pinacoteca do Estado museum houses an excellent collection of Brazilian - and especially Paulista - art from the 19th century to present, including works by big names such as Portinari and Di Cavalcanti. Extensive renovations have made it a pleasant place to while away a rainy afternoon, and there is an attractive café that spills out into the adjacent Parque da Luz.
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Solar da Marquesa
Down a narrow side street near the cathedral stands the city's last surviving 18th-century residence, Solar da Marquesa. It is a simple but delightful villa that was once home to a lover of Emperor Dom Pedro I and which now houses a modest museum devoted to the history of the city.
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Showing 1-18 of 18 results
