From the Pau-Brasil phase to socially-oriented production, Tarsila do Amaral's works help to understand different moments of Brazilian modernism traduzido por: OPENROUTER
Submitted at Aug 24, 2026, 3:00 PM
Tarsila do Amaral (Divulgação)
The trajectory of Tarsila do Amaral occupies a central place in the history of Brazilian modern art. Throughout her career, the artist developed a style of painting marked by the combination of references from the European avant-gardes and elements linked to Brazilian culture, landscape, and imagination.
Although she is often associated with the works produced during the 1920s, her production spanned more than six decades and went through different moments. The changes in themes and interests over time allow us to observe how Tarsila incorporated issues related to Brazilian identity, urban and rural life, and social transformations into her painting.
Tarsila do Amaral was born in Capivari (SP), in 1886, into a family of farmers. She studied art in São Paulo and, later, in Barcelona and Paris. Back in Brazil, she became close to names of modernism, such as Anita Malfatti, Mário de Andrade, Oswald de Andrade, and Menotti Del Picchia, forming the so-called Group of Five.
Throughout her career, Tarsila developed a style of painting focused on the construction of a modern Brazilian language, incorporating landscapes, characters, colors, and elements of the country's daily life. Her production went through different phases, among them the Pau-Brasil and the Anthropophagic, in addition to a period of greater interest in social issues. Tarsila died in São Paulo in 1973, and today she is considered one of the leading artists of Brazilian modernism. Below, we list seven works to get to know her work better!
Painted in 1923, A Negra belongs to an important moment in Tarsila do Amaral's artistic formation. Created in Paris, the work reveals the influence of the European avant-gardes with which the artist came into contact during her studies, while at the same time presenting a figure associated with Brazilian reality. The woman portrayed appears with simplified forms and accentuated proportions, characteristics that anticipate research that would later be developed in her painting.
A Negra. (Divulgação)
The work is also important because it precedes the so-called Pau-Brasil phase, initiated by Tarsila the following year. In A Negra, there is already an interest in constructing a representation that moved away from academic standards and incorporated elements linked to the Brazilian experience. The painting currently belongs to the collection of MAC USP.
Morro da Favela is part of Tarsila do Amaral's Pau-Brasil phase. During this period, the artist began to explore themes linked to Brazilian landscape and culture, combining these references with formal solutions learned during her time in Europe. The work presents houses, vegetation, and characters organized in a composition of vivid colors.
Morro da Favela. (Divulgação)
The painting helps to understand an important change in her production: the search for a modern language linked to the Brazilian context, instead of simply reproducing European models. Urban and rural landscapes, tropical vegetation, and everyday scenes came to occupy an important space in her works.
Perhaps Tarsila do Amaral's best-known work, Abaporu was painted in 1928 and became a landmark of the anthropophagic movement. The canvas presents a human figure with exaggerated proportions in front of a cactus and the sun, elements that contribute to the singular atmosphere of the composition.
Abaporu. (Divulgação)
The painting was given by Tarsila as a gift to Oswald de Andrade, her then husband, and would have inspired the writer to develop the Anthropophagic Manifesto, published that same year. The proposal of cultural anthropophagy defended the appropriation and transformation of foreign references for the creation of a distinctly Brazilian production. Currently, the work belongs to the collection of MALBA, in Buenos Aires.
A Lua presents a nocturnal landscape built mainly in shades of blue and green, with a yellow moon highlighted. In the center of the composition, a form that can be interpreted as a cactus or a human figure appears before the landscape, maintaining the ambiguity characteristic of the work.
A Lua. (Divulgação)
The work belongs to the artist's anthropophagic period and was produced in the same year as Abaporu. In 2019, A Lua was acquired by the Museum of Modern Art of New York (MoMA), becoming the first painting by Tarsila to be part of the collection of a North American museum.
Painted in 1929, Antropofagiabrings together elements that had already appeared in the artist's earlier works, especially A Negra and Abaporu. The two figures occupy the foreground of the composition, accompanied by the cactus, the banana leaf, and the sun, forming a scene associated with the idea of Brazilianness present in the anthropophagic production.
Antropofagia. (Divulgação)
The work therefore synthesizes an important moment in Tarsila's research on the construction of a Brazilian modern art, in which local references and international influences were combined and transformed. The painting is part of the collection of the Pinacoteca de São Paulo.
In the 1930s, Tarsila's production underwent a significant change, with a more evident presence of social and political themes. Operários, from 1933, is one of the main examples of this phase and depicts a large number of workers in front of industrial structures.
Operários. (Divulgação)
The painting moves away from the idealized landscapes and fantastical figures of earlier works to address the context of industrialization and the Brazilian social transformations. The diversity of faces represented in the composition also contributes to the discussion about work, migration, and the formation of urban society.
Segunda Classe depicts a group of people gathered in front of a small building, in a composition that relates to the life of workers and the social conditions of Brazil at that time. The theme is close to that of Operários, but presents a scene more connected to everyday experience and precariousness.
Segunda Classe. (Divulgação)
The painting was created after Tarsila's trip to the Soviet Union, in 1931, an experience that contributed to the artist's approach to political and social themes. Segunda Classe is currently part of the collection of the Pinacoteca de São Paulo.
Observing these works together allows us to understand that Tarsila do Amaral's production is not limited to Abaporu. Between the formal experimentations of the 1920s and the social production of the following decade, her painting went through different interests, themes and solutions.
It is precisely this diversity that helps to explain the permanence of her work in the history of Brazilian art. By incorporating European references, Brazilian landscapes, popular characters, and social issues, Tarsila built her own language, which remains fundamental to understanding modernism in the country.
CASACOR Publisher is an exclusive content-creating agent, developed by CASACOR's Technology team based on the knowledge base of casacor.com.br. This text was edited by Milena Garcia.
traduzido por: OPENROUTER
