São Paulo, Brazil is a huge, sprawling city, both rich and poor, both wonderful and dirty. The first time I went there, I was very unimpressed, but the more I go, the more I like it. Because it’s such a large and important city in Brazil, it is cosmopolitan and has a lot to offer, like shopping, amazing food, interesting ethnic neighborhoods, and world-class entertainment. One of the city’s best attractions is MASP, a fantastic museum in the center of the city, and the weekend markets nearby, so if you’re wondering what to do in Sao Paulo, spend a Sunday on Avenida Paulista:
MASP: Museum of Art of São Paulo (Museu de Arte de São Paulo)
Why go to MASP?
1. Excellent temporary exhibits and a very impressive permanent collection, which is considered the best collection of Western art in Latin America and includes works by many European masters, including Botticelli, Titian, Raphael, Rembrandt, Picasso, Monet, Renoir, Van Gogh, Matisse, Chagall, and many more. (Wow!)
When I visited last year, I was extremely disappointed that the permanent collection was closed for renovation. The temporary exhibit was open, and even though I went there expecting to see master works from the permanent collection, the temporary exhibit was so amazing that I immediately saw MASP’s standing as an art institution. It was a highlight of my trip despite the permanent collection being off-limits.
2. The building, constructed in 1968, is well known in the city and is landmark piece of modern Brazilian architecture. The museum stands on pillars under which is 74 meters of free space. A huge antiques market is held in that space on Sundays.
3. If you go to the museum on a Sunday, you must make time to shop the market held across the street from the museum. It includes Brazilian handicrafts, clothing, and art, most of which is made by the artist who is selling it. You can also buy traditional food from Northern Brazil, which is cooked to order by Bahianas (women from Bahia).
Logistics:
MASP is located on the big, modern Avenida Paulista. It is open Tues. – Sun. 11-5. Parking can be found in small lots next to the museum or in parking garages on adjacent streets.
Trianon Park across the street from the museum is nice for a stroll– sometimes musicians play traditional Brazilian music at the entrance, and you can see sculptures, tropical plants, and wildlife, maybe even monkeys.
Have you been to Brazil? What are your favorite things to do there?
I love your Great Art Series…such a lovely idea! I’m looking forward to reading more. I studied (and soon to be studying again) art history and museums/historic sites are always at the top of my must see list.
I’m really looking forward to the Impressionist show at the de Young this summer too, but I think I’m even more excited for the Post-Impressionist show
Though I’m sure they’re both going to be amazing.
And your photos of Santa Maria Novella are beautiful…we were in Florence a couple years ago, but despite walking by it to and from the station, never ventured inside.
Hi Ashley,
Did you see the King Tut exhibit?
Thank you so much for stopping by and for leaving a comment. I’m glad you liked the art series so far. Seeing art and architecture is my favorite thing to do when traveling, so I wanted to do some posts that focus on that. There will be more to come. Yes, I’m excited about both the Impressionist and Post-Impressionist shows. We are so fortunate to have world-class art in San Francisco!
How great that you were in Florence 2 years ago. I absolutely love Florence but it’s been many years since I was there. Even though you didn’t go inside Santa Maria Novella, I’m sure you saw lots of great art there!
Jenna
I did see the King Tut show! I am actually currently working at the de Young
and they hosted an employee evening so we could bring family/friends to the exhibition, which was really nice. Planning on beginning grad school in the fall, so probably won’t be working the Post-Impressionist show, but will be attending multiple times!
We are so lucky to have great museums in San Francisco. I’m particularly fond of the Asian Art Museum, and haven’t missed a special exhibition there in quite awhile. And did see fantastic art in Florence, though my favorite museum in Italy was the Peggy Guggenheim in Venice.
Wow, how lucky you are to work there! Are you going to study art history in grad school? I got my BA in art history, planned to continue in grad school but ended up getting a master’s in linguistics after teaching English abroad. I still hope to study art history again someday.
I haven’t been to the Asian Art Museum. I will have to check it out. Even though we live close, we don’t get to SF too often, and when we do, my husband and I have to compromise about what to see and do.
I am going to study art history in grad school – super excited! My focus is going to be on Modern Art, and want to do my thesis work on Italian Modern Art…probably Futurism, but we’ll see. I did look into linguistics programs too – love languages, and always trying to teach myself a new one…haha.
You’ll have to let me know what you think of the Asian Art Museum, whenever you do make it there
A cool plan is to visit the antiquitie´s market underneath th MASP MUseum, is fantastic!
Here we post some links with info of the Market, and from Sao Paulo, hope you like it and come to visit us soon!
http://migre.me/BbPo
http://migre.me/AABt
http://migre.me/ABd6
http://migre.me/BbMU
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Jenna, your descriptions are wonderful and accurate. This is a terrific museum, and it’s in a great location. When my family was in Sao Paulo we stayed at a pousada quite close to MASP called Donah Zilah. http://dispatchesfrombrasil.blogspot.com/2009/02/in-country-pousada-dona-zilah.html
Because it was so close to the museum, we were able to walk to it one warm February morning. http://dispatchesfrombrasil.blogspot.com/2009/02/in-country-museo-de-arte-de-sao-paulo.html
Thanks so much for sharing this, and bringing on all these memories back!