The Pinacoteca do Estado de Sao Paulo Museum of Art is the city's oldest and certainly one of the most important country. Born in the building originally built to house the School of Arts and Crafts in St. Paul. Therefore, the history of Pinacoteca confused in its infancy with the deployment of Lyceum, and their presence in the building - troubled by a series of historical events, such as conflicts of 1930 and 1932, and reforms - alternated with transfers temporary locations, such as the building of the Official Press and the pavilion in Ibirapuera.
At his inauguration, which took place on December 24, 1905, the collection of the Pinacoteca consisted of 26 paintings by major artists who worked in the city, Almeida Jr., Peter of Alexandria, Berthe Worms, Antonio Parreiras and Oscar Pereira da Silva, from the Paulista Museum (then the State Museum). In its early years, the Pinacoteca occupied a single room on the third floor. There was still a body independent from the Lyceum, which would only happen in 1911. During its first decades of existence, the Pinacoteca turned to the expansion of its collection, with emphasis on nineteenth-century Brazilian art. However, this profile begins to change from 1967, with the managements of Delmiro Gonçalves, Clovis Graciano and Walter Wey, when it began the reforms of the building, have expanded the museum's activities and changed the criteria for selection of works, now to be made by the Steering Board of the Art Gallery, established in 1970. Since then, a significant collection of Brazilian art from the nineteenth century came to be supplemented, little by little, representative works from later periods.
A series of fruitful efforts, contributed, each in its own time, to enrich the collection of the institution and for its adaptation to conditions of museological excellence, which today make the Pinacoteca museum of international standard. An area restricted to experts, it became a space for inclusion, getting the different segments of society. From a single, unchanging display with works from the collection evolved into a program of temporary exhibitions on various issues of art and culture, associated with long-term exhibitions with works of its collection. From a functional body composed of a conservative, as stipulated in its regulations of 1911, now has a table with more than 50 technicians and about 100 employees, all highly qualified. Restructures its formal relationship with the school, winning an alliance and complementary role. In place of the amateur work, though dedicated, laid the scientific museology as a reference to propose and implement policies. In an isolated initiative of the State, constituted in the joint action of public and private spheres.
In this context, celebrating the first centenary of the Pinacoteca do Estado de Sao Paulo is configured as an ideal time for a necessary reflection on his performance. Throughout these 100 years, the balance of achievements is significant.: A collection of over 8,000 works in various techniques and different authors, which offers a broader panorama of Brazilian art of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, a few million visitors (more than one million in just the last three years), two buildings with more than 20 000 m2 of adequate technical facilities: the centenary building of the Light, where it was created, and, more recently, the old building of DEOPS, Current Season Pinacoteca, hundreds of publications that constitute the basic reference of the history of our visual arts, and hundreds of shows that have proven and dedicated designers and the most distinctive works, consolidated knowledge and experience in all areas of the field museum, conservation and restoration of education special audiences.
Beyond these concrete indicators, there is a universe impossible to scale. One of the key responsibilities of the art museum today is looking to educate and sensitize the mind, creating the conditions necessary for the full exercise of citizenship. But the great task of contemporary museum, this virtual age, is still, to affirm individuality, the spiritual man as a creative agent, unique and irreplaceable. It is for this challenge, the Pinacoteca do Estado is continually rethinks and broadens, preserving the past and embracing the future.
Pinacoteca do Estado
Praca da Luz 2
Bairro do Bom Retiro
Tel 3229-9844
