Adriana Varejão: the artist who transforms Brazil's history into art

Few contemporary Brazilian artists have built a visual universe as recognizable as Adriana Varejão's. Portuguese tiles, walls that seem to reveal flesh within them, maps, swimming pools, saunas, and references to historical painting appear in works that move between beauty and discomfort to investigate the many layers of Brazilian cultural formation.

Celacanto, Azulejões. (Eduardo Eckenfels/Divulgação)

Born in Rio de Janeiro in 1964, Varejão began her artistic career in the 1980s and attended free courses at the Parque Lage School of Visual Arts between 1981 and 1985. Her first solo exhibition took place in 1988 at Galeria Thomas Cohn, in the Rio de Janeiro capital. Since then, the artist has consolidated an internationally renowned career, participating in important exhibitions and biennials around the world.

A body of work that revisits Brazilian history

(Divulgação/Divulgação)

The history of Brazil occupies a central position in Adriana Varejão's production. At different moments in her career, the artist has appropriated images associated with the colonial period, including maps, tiles, records by European travelers, and representations of Indigenous and Black people, to propose new readings about these images and about the way history itself was constructed.

(Divulgação/Divulgação)

Rather than simply reproducing these elements, Varejão displaces and transforms them. Colonization, miscegenation, violence, and power relations appear interwoven with references to the Baroque and the pictorial tradition. Thus, seemingly decorative elements acquire other dimensions when inserted into works that question official narratives and the marks left by the colonial process.

Tiles: a Varejão trademark

Among the elements most associated with the artist's production are Portuguese tiles. Present since her earliest works, they refer directly to colonial architecture and to the cultural exchange brought about by Portuguese expansion, but they also allow the artist to explore repetition, geometry, ornamentation, and painting.

(Divulgação/Divulgação)

In some series, Varejão enlarges the tile designs or creates surfaces that simulate large tiled walls. What might be understood simply as decoration comes to carry memory and history, transforming the architectural surface into a territory for discussing the relations between different cultures.

The flesh behind the walls

Another emblematic image of her production emerges when seemingly rigid walls and surfaces are opened to reveal an interior that resembles human flesh. In works such as those from the Ruínas de Charque series, painting, sculpture, and architecture come together to create fragmented and visceral structures.

(Divulgação/Divulgação)

The cuts and wounds also dialogue with references from the history of painting and with the dramatic quality of the Baroque, marked by images of bodies, wounds, and suffering. The strategy creates a powerful contrast: behind organized and ornamental surfaces lies something organic, irregular, and violent.

Saunas, pools, and the geometry of tiles

Adriana Varejão. Parede com incisões à la Fontana (Istambul), 2011. Óleo sobre tela e poliuretano sobre suporte de alumínio e madeira. © Adriana Varejão. (Vicente de Mello/Divulgação)

From the 2000s onwards, another strand gained strength in her work. In the series Saunas and Baths, tile-covered projects appear constructed through perspective, creating silent architectural spaces, often without human figures.

Adriana Varejão. Anjo encarnado, 2026. Óleo e gesso sobre tela. © Adriana Varejão. (Vicente de Mello/Divulgação)

In these paintings, geometry guides the gaze into the image, while pools, corridors, and aquatic projects seem to oscillate between possible places and imaginary constructions. Tilework remains present, but takes on a different dimension from that found in works directly related to colonial history.

Global artist

Adriana Varejão's strength lies precisely in the way the artist transforms familiar images into tools to question the past. A tile ceases to be merely a decorative element – a wall can reveal wounds, a historical painting can be dismantled and reorganized from a contemporary perspective.

(Reprodução/MAM Rio/Divulgação)

Throughout her career, Adriana Varejão has participated in important international events, such as the Biennials of São Paulo, Havana, Johannesburg, Liverpool, and Sydney, in addition to having presented works at institutions and exhibitions in different countries. Her works have also become part of important contemporary art collections.

Extirpação do mal por incisura. (Sergio Guerini/Divulgação)

In Brazil, one of the most important places to get to know her production is the Adriana Varejão Pavilion, at the Inhotim Institute, in Brumadinho, Minas Gerais. The space dedicated to the artist reinforces a fundamental characteristic of her trajectory: the ability to establish relationships between painting, sculpture, and architecture.

This text was developed with the assistance of CASACOR Publisher, an exclusive content agent developed by the CASACOR Technology team based on the knowledge base of casacor.com.br. The generated content was subsequently edited by Yeska Coelho.