Every once in a while, travelers are fortunate enough to come across art that creates a direct route into the heart and soul of a people. The brightly colored nuances of Brazilian identity - and of other world cultures - are wonderfully represented at the International Museum of Naïve Art of Brazil (MIAN) in Rio de Janeiro.
Photo Tour of the International Museum of Naïve Art of Brazil
- Comprehensive collection of Brazilian and international naive art
- Guided tours present a wealth of information
- Great location next to the Corcovado access
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- The museum has works by some of the most outstanding names in Brazilian naïve art.
- At the time of this writing, exclusive guided tours must be scheduled in advance.
- An art gallery has original pieces by featured artists for sale, ranging in price from hundreds to thousands of dollars.
- Souvenirs for all budgets are available at the gift shop, starting from high-quality $2 cards suitable for framing.
- One of the exhibits has replicas of paitings by Henri Rousseau, the first artist described as naïve.
The International Museum of Naïve Art of Brazil (MIAN) is the result of a couple's love for the spontaneous, self-taught art form known as naïve art. Lucien Finkelstein, a Frenchman who adopted Brazil as his home country, and his Brazilian wife, Mariza Campos da Paz, devoted several decades to collecting works by talented artists from all over the world.
They bought a nineteenth-century house in Cosme Velho, at the foot of Corcovado, which they turned into MIAN. The museum is two doors down from the Corcovado train station, next to a house which belonged to intellectual Austregésilo de Athayde and near other historic homes.
When Lucien passed away in 2008, Mariza da Paz became president of the Lucien Finkelstein Foundation, of which she used to be vice-president, and continued the museum's endeavors, including the promotion of upcoming talents in naïve art.
The couple went to great lengths to amass the collection, traveling continents, taking rickety taxis to the top of mountains and leaving guided tours to search for artists in remote places.
Through the years, they discovered budding talents and helped bring them into the art circuit. In Brazil, many naïve artists have benefitted from the museum's projects, such as Future Greats of Naïve Art, Great Names of Naïve Art, Naïves of Our Brazil - which highlights regional talents - and New Values of Naïve Art.
The museum's exhibits are accompanied by carefully prepared multilingual literature which gives viewers information about the artist's background and work.
Address:
Rua Cosme Velho 561Rio de Janeiro
Phone: 21-2205-8612/ 21-2205-8547
Website: www.museunaif.com.br
