The city through different lenses

THE CITY THROUGH DIFFERENT LENSES

A city can be read through its façades, gardens, alleyways, houses, maps, ruins, and in-between spaces. It does not always appear as crowds or noise. At times, it emerges suspended in light, marked by silence and traces of permanence. This section looks at urban space as a sensitive construction, where architecture, memory, movement, and imagination intersect and extend beyond the street.

In the works of Tarsila do Amaral, Cícero Dias, and Madeleine Colaço, the cityscape approaches poetry. Vegetation, a nostalgic atmosphere, and the light of night or dusk create scenes in which the city seems to emerge slowly, somewhere between dream and geometry. Rather than simply depicting buildings or avenues, these works reveal ways of perceiving time and the life that unfolds around them.

In a different register, Nelson Leirner and Leda Catunda observe streets, roads, and routes from an aerial perspective. Their works transform the urban layout into a visual game, a labyrinth, and a commentary on the flows that shape contemporary experience. Movement itself becomes drawing, motion, and humor.

Gilberto Filho and Emmanuel Nassar explore the city through its remaining material traces. Nassar paints traditional houses on metal sheets recovered from scrapyards, bringing together popular memory and urban renewal. Gilberto Filho uses fragments from demolished buildings to create compositions in which “what remains” also projects new possibilities. Here, the city is made of material, memory, and desire.

PHOTOS

Corrida comemorativa da inauguração de Brasília (Commemorative Race for the Inauguration of Brasília)
Marcel Gautherot, 1960
Photographic reproduction
Instituto Moreira Salles Collection

ARTWORKS

Sem título (Untitled)
Raymundo Colares, 1969
Industrial enamel on metal
João Sattamini Collection

Personagens dans la ville — Cidade com crianças (Figures in the City — Town with Children)
Antonio Bandeira, 1955
Oil on canvas
Marcos Ribeiro Simon Collection

Boogie Woogie
Nelson Leirner, 2012–2020
Wood and toy cars
Courtesy of Galeria Silvia Cintra

Boogie Woogie
Nelson Leirner, 2019–2020
Wood and toy cars
Courtesy of Galeria Silvia Cintra

Pista (Track)
Leda Catunda, 2018
Enamel and acrylic on canvas and wood
Courtesy of the artist and Fortes D’Aloia & Gabriel

Prédio Jacarandá (Jacarandá Building)
Gilberto Filho, 2024
Carved wood
Courtesy of Galeria Galatea

Prédio Jamile (Jamile Building)
Gilberto Filho, 2012
Carved wood
Courtesy of Galeria Galatea

Prédio Elza (Elza Building)
Gilberto Filho, 1992
Carved wood
Courtesy of Galeria Galatea

Paisagem com quinze casas (Landscape with Fifteen Houses)
Tarsila do Amaral, 1965
Tempera on canvas
Marcos Ribeiro Simon Collection

Sem título (Untitled)
Madeleine Colaço, n.d.
Wool tapestry on canvas mesh
Santander Brasil Collection

Sem título (Untitled)
Cícero Dias, 1950
Oil on canvas
Marcos Ribeiro Simon Collection

Casa rosa (Pink House)
Emmanuel Nassar, 2024
Acrylic on canvas
Courtesy of Galeria Almeida & Dale
Image credit: Julia Thompson

Casa branca (White House)
Emmanuel Nassar, 2024
Acrylic on canvas
Courtesy of Galeria Almeida & Dale
Image credit: Julia Thompson

Chapa 2209 (Sheet 2209)
Emmanuel Nassar, 2022
Synthetic enamel on metal sheet
Courtesy of Galeria Almeida & Dale
Image credit: Julia Thompson

Chapa 153 (Sheet 153)
Emmanuel Nassar, 2012
Synthetic enamel on metal sheet
Courtesy of Galeria Almeida & Dale
Image credit: Julia Thompson

Sem título (Untitled)
Aurelino dos Santos, 2017
Oil on canvas
Renan Quevedo Collection

Planalto Norte (Northern Plateau)
Otaviano Lourenço de Matos, 2018
Latex on canvas
Renan Quevedo Collection

Sem título (Untitled)
Lorenzato, 1974
Oil on chicken-wire mesh
Private Collection

Pôr do sol — Brasília (Sunset — Brasília)
Lorenzato, 1979
Oil on particleboard
Private Collection

Sem título (Untitled)
Lorenzato, 1982
Oil on particleboard
Private Collection

Sem título (Untitled)
Lorenzato, 1980
Oil on particleboard
Errol Flynn Galeria de Arte

Sem título (Untitled)
Lorenzato, n.d.
Oil on particleboard
Errol Flynn Galeria de Arte

Geometria colorida (Colorful Geometry)
Lorenzato, 1992
Oil on particleboard
Errol Flynn Galeria de Arte