Aurelino dos Santos: meet the Bahian artist honored at CASACOR Bahia traduzido por: OPENROUTER

The trajectory of Aurelino dos Santos occupies a particular place in Brazilian art. Born in Salvador in 1942, the artist developed a body of work mainly dedicated to painting, built in a self-taught manner and marked by geometric shapes, vibrant colors and unique representations of the urban landscape.

(Divulgação)

Aurelino began painting in the 1960s, after working as a bus fare collector. His approach to art was connected to the Bahian sculptor Agnaldo Manoel dos Santos, who was his neighbor and acquired one of his first works. Later, the architect Lina Bo Bardi and the critic and MASP director Pietro Maria Bardi became familiar with his work and contributed to its circulation in the artistic scene.

Wesley Lemos - Galeria de Arte Ernesto Bitencourt | Aurelino dos Santos. Projeto da CASACOR Bahia 2026. (Denilson Machado, do MCA Estúdio/Divulgação)

His work gained recognition in Brazil and also traveled to international exhibitions. Today, the Bahian artist is honored with an art gallery at CASACOR Bahia 2026 signed by architect Wesley Lemos. "Aurelino is one of those men who, on the margins of this society, develops his own intellectuality and an absolute geometry. We don't see anywhere the style he develops," Wesley states in an interview with CASACOR.

A trajectory built outside art schools

Without formal artistic training, Aurelino developed his language from his own experience and a particular observation of the city. Contact with Agnaldo Manoel dos Santos sparked his interest in painting. The artist himself recalled that he made his first strokes on a canvas facing the sea, at the Barra Lighthouse. Agnaldo was the first to recognize his talent and even bought one of his works.

(Divulgação)

Shortly afterwards, Lina Bo Bardi, then director of the Bahia Museum of Modern Art, came into contact with his production and began contributing to its projection. In a gesture that Aurelino remembered fondly, the architect gave him 15 canvases to paint, starting a series of exhibitions that introduced him to the art world. Aurelino's works were shown in cities such as Paris, Madrid and Valencia.

Geometry, color and different points of view

Geometrization is one of the most striking characteristics of Aurelino's work. His paintings organize landscapes and constructions using triangles, circles, rectangles and other geometric elements, creating cities that seem simultaneously recognizable and imagined. The compositions also feature intense colors, responsible for establishing different planes within the scenes.

(Divulgação)

Another recurring aspect is the representation of the same landscape from more than one point of view. Elements that would normally be observed from the front may appear combined with upper perspectives, creating a kind of imaginary architecture. That is why, although many works may seem abstract at first glance, Aurelino attributed concrete meanings to the images he built.

A city reinvented through painting

On his canvases, Aurelino reorganizes houses, buildings, streets and other architectural elements of Salvador through geometric planes and chromatic combinations. The result is urban landscapes that preserve references to the real world but obey their own logic of composition.

(Divulgação)

This characteristic helps to understand the uniqueness of his production. Instead of following a traditional representation of the landscape, Aurelino builds his own spaces, articulating shapes and colors in an intuitive way. Geometry thus becomes one of the main instruments to organize what the artist wishes to represent.

A lasting legacy

Aurelino dos Santos died on January 23, 2026, at the age of 83, in Salvador. In a note of condolence, the Cultural Foundation of the State of Bahia highlighted his contribution to Bahian visual arts and his production marked by intense colors and strong geometrization.

(Divulgação)

The legacy left by the artist is related to popular art and to self-taught Brazilian production, in addition to his formal connections with different artistic movements – such as Baroque, Concretism and Neoconcretism. The characteristics of his production are considered unique and will continue to influence the next generations.

Aurelino at CASACOR Bahia 2026

A few months after his death, CASACOR Bahia 2026 dedicates a special exhibition to Aurelino dos Santos. The show brings together 30 unreleased canvases, produced during the last decade of his life, and occupies the entire second floor of Casa Nossa Senhora das Mercês, open to the public for the first time.

Wesley Lemos - Galeria de Arte Ernesto Bitencourt | Aurelino dos Santos. Projeto da CASACOR Bahia 2026. (Denilson Machado, do MCA Estúdio/Divulgação)

The exhibition is part of the program of the 32nd edition of the show, which takes place from July 7 to September 6 under the theme Mind and Heart. Curated by Ernesto Bitencourt with exhibition design by Wesley Lemos and Ernesto Bittencourt, the selection is part of the Panorama of Bahian Modern and Contemporary Art program, which brings together about 190 works distributed across the three floors of the mansion.

traduzido por: OPENROUTER