Candido Portinari is born in a coffee farm in Brodowski, São Paulo, on December 30. His parents were Italian immigrants, Batista Portinari and Domênica Torquato, who had 12 kids.

“I was born in a coffee farm. My parents worked the soil… They moved from Santa Rosa Farm to the Brodowski station – where there was no settlement; I must have been about 2 years old.”

There, my grandmother on my father’s side, an uncle, an aunt, and both my father’s brothers lived with my parents. I vaguely recall the house and the warehouse; there was a room full of watermelons and boxes of Port wine. These boxes always came with surprises. I was very happy when a small pocket knife with a mother-of-pearl handle came for me”.

(Paris, November 29, 1957)

The boy Portinari starts drawing.

For several months, he participates in the Brodowski church restoration works, helping the Italian painters “Dipingere Le Stelle” (paint the stars). Later, he helps a sculptor specialized in creating angels/adornments.

“The vicar João Rulli wanted to order a gate and they didn’t understand each other, I got a sheet of paper and drew the gate. The priest looked at me and said: – Tomorrow the angel/adornment sculptor will arrive to decorate the façade of the new church. You should go see him and learn. Ricardo Luini was my sculptor’s name. (…) When he finished, he gave me a coin, two thousand réis and a trip to Ribeirão Preto. A very good person”.

(Pieces of my childhood)

Using a pack of cigarettes, Portinari made a pencil portrait of the musician Carlos Gomes. The family kept the drawing.

The artist travels to Rio de Janeiro. He has lessons at the Liceu de Artes e Ofícios. He s in the National Fine Arts School where he studies drawing and painting and his professors were Rodolfo Amoedo, Batista da Costa, Lucílio Albuquerque and Carlos Chambelland.

“The closer to leaving I got, the more afflicted I felt. I would look to the floor, the plants, animals, birds and that light… It seemed I would never see everything that was a part of me again. How many tears I shed in private. I saw and saw again all those corners a thousand times. Missing within what stayed behind. (…) I would try rehearsing so I wouldn’t be betrayed by my emotions. I would go to my grandmother’s house, exchange a couple of words and leave defeated, it was simply impossible. I would go back hone, talk with my mother and feel it was impossible to utter the words. I could not say goodbye. I would rather not go, but had to, I had reached the age. The sun, the moon, the stars, the river waters, the wind, everything would stay there and I would encounter the dark.”

Paris, September 1958.

The Modern Art Week is held in São Paulo. Portinari does not participate. He exhibits for the first time at the Fine Arts School Exhibit.

Portinari sends the portrait of the writer Paulo Mazzucchelli to the Fine Arts School Exhibit, receiving three awards, among which the bronze medal.

Participates in the National Fine Arts Exhibit with the painting Baile na Roça (Dance in the Farm), a work with a Brazilian theme, but it is refused by the jury.

Receives a small silver medal at the exhibit, where he exhibits two portraits.

Portinari receives the grand silver medal.

With the portrait of the poet Olegário Mariano, he wins the Travel Abroad award.

Before traveling, he holds his first individual exhibit with 25 portraits by the initiative of the Brazilian Artists Association. He departs to Europe, travels through Italy, England and Spain and settles in Paris. “I started working, but in my room because I still couldn’t have a studio. Nevertheless, I was not sad, because I am not wasting time: in the morning I go to the Louvre, in the afternoon I study. I do not intend to paint yet. I learn more looking at a Ticiano, a Raphael, than at the entire Autumn Exhibit”.

(Letter to the friend Olegário Mariano)

Portinari goes to the museums daily, discovers the Paris School modern painting, discusses art at the cafés and almost has no time to paint. He meets Maria Martinelli, a young 19-year-old Uruguayan eradicated with her family in Paris and marries her.

He misses Brodowski and writes to Brazil: “From here I saw my hometown better – I saw Brodowski as it is. I don’t want to do anything here. I am going to paint Palaninho, I will paint those people with those clothes and those colors. When I started painting, I felt I should portray my people and painted the “Baile na Roça” (Dance in the Farm) (…) The landscape where we played for the first time never leaves us, and when I get back I’m going to work to portray my land…”

Portinari and Maria return to Rio de Janeiro and he starts working at an intense pace. He participates in the commission destined to promote the remodeling of the National Fine Arts Exhibit, to which the modern artists are itted for the first time. Portinari is invited by the then dean of the National Fine Arts School, the architect Lúcio Costa, to be part of the exhibit organizing committee. That year, Portinari exhibits 17 masterpieces.

Exhibits individually at the Palace Hotel. This time he exhibits works with a Brazilian theme – childhood scenes, the circus, ring-around-a-rosie.

The artist does another individual exhibit at the same place.

That year, Portinari paints “Despejados” (Evicted), a work with a social theme.?Intellectuals start seeing in his figure the true visual representative of Brazilian modernism. He has his canvas “O Mestiço” bought by the São Paulo State Pinacotheca, being the first public institution to include a work by Portinari in its collection.

“Modern painting frankly tends to mural painting. With that I don’t want to state that the canvas on the easel loses its value, because the way it is done does not matter. For many years, in Mexico and the United States this trend has been a reality, and in other countries there is the same movement, which will impose its sense of mass on painting.”

(Interview by Portinari to the Diário de São Paulo, on November 21, 1934)

In July, he is hired to teach mural and easel painting at the Federal District University in Rio de Janeiro. Participating in the International Carnegie Institute Exhibit in the United States, together with painters from 21 countries, he receives his Second Honorable Mention with the canvas “Café” (Coffee). Even before the awards, this painting is bought by the Minister of Education Gustavo Capanema for the Fine Arts Museum.

Portinari paints his first mural for the highway monument of the Rio/São Paulo Highway measuring 0.96m x 7.68m. The minister Gustavo Capanema invites him to work on the building that will be built for the Ministry of Education.

With the intent of dedicating himself to his studies for the Ministry frescos, Portinari receives the collaboration of some students from the Federal District University. Enrico Bianco, a young Italian painter that had recently arrived in Brazil, is introduced to Portinari, who invites him to work in the Ministry.

This is the year marked by the execution of the Ministry of Education works.

“Brazil lacked a mural painting with a national character, related to historical themes of our ethnic background or the country’s economic and social life. This work is presently being done by Candido Portinari for the new Ministry of Education building”.

(Antônio Bento to A Tarde newspaper on April 2, 1937)

His only son, João Candido, is born in January of that year.?He creates three s for the Brazilian pavilion at the New York World Fair: “Jangadas do Nordeste” (Jangadas from the Northeast); “Cena Gaúcha” (Rio Grande do Sul Scene) and “Festa de São João” (Saint John Party). The New York Museum of Modern Art buys the painting “O Morro” (The Hill) that René Huyghe, director of the Louvre museum, advised Portinari not to use. In November, he exhibits 269 works for the National Fine Arts Museum. The Federal District University is closed.

Portinari participates in the Latin-American Art Exhibit at the Riverside Museum in New York. He exhibits with great success in Detroit and the New York Museum of Modern Art. The University of Chicago Press publishes “Portinari, His Life and Art,” the first book on the artist with a prologue by Rockwell Kent and Josias Leão. He illustrates “A Mulher Ausente” (The Absent Woman) by Adalgisa Nery.

In his parent’s home in Brodowski, Portinari starts painting a chapel for his grandmother (“Capela da Nonna” (Nona’s Chapel)), who is sick and can no longer frequent church.

He spends several months in the United States painting frescos for the Congress Library Hispanic Foundation in Washington D. C. He sees the painting “Guernica” by Pablo Picasso, which impresses him very much. Portinari illustrates the kid’s book “Maria Rosa,” by the North-American author Vera Kelsey.

At Assis Chateaubriand’s request, he paints a series of murals for Tupi radio in Rio inspired by Brazilian popular music. He holds a new individual exhibit at the National Fin Arts Museum. Illustrates “Memórias Póstumas de Brás Cubas,” by Machado de Assis.

About the series “Os Músicos” (The Musicians), Assis Chateaubriand comments, “The Greatness and miseries of Brazil, its sensitivities, secret tragedies, the obscure contra-revolts of its less-fortunate classes, the frenzy of the sambas, the beats, the awkwardness of frevo, the melancholy, without bitterness, of the black people and mulattos, (…) the flute player and the rogue from the hill, in this entire human comedy and Portinari’s palette lies immortal colors (…)”.

Paints three s for the Mayrink chapel in Rio de Janeiro. Finishes a biblical cycle, which Assis Chateaubriand buys and takes to Tupi Radio in São Paulo where the influence of “Guernica” by Picasso is visible. Works with two s of the series “Retirante.” Paints a mural and tiles about the life of Saint Francis of Assisi for the Pampulha chapel in Belo Horizonte (MG).

Portinari loses his great friend Mário de Andrade. He goes on a “Via Crucis” to the Pampulha chapel. The painter s the Communist Party seeing in the organization, despite being clandestine, a chance to fight against the dictatorship in favor of amnesty and elections. Very prestigious names in society get together in this party. Candidate to house representative for São Paulo, Portinari loses the elections. The PCB is able to elect a senator (Luiz Carlos Prestes) and 14 house representatives.

He exhibits his paintings and drawings from the series “Retirante” and “Meninos de Brodowski” at the Charpentier Gallery in Paris and receives the “Legion of Honor” from the French government.

Candidate to senator in São Paulo for the Communist Party losing by a small vote margin, putting the honesty of the elections in check. Travels to Buenos Aires where he holds an individual exhibit and again presents in Montevideo, at the National Fine Arts Commission Exhibit in Uruguay.

In Montevideo he paints the large “A Primeira Missa no Brasil” (The First Mass in Brazil) in tempera for Boavista Bank in Rio de Janeiro. Portinari illustrates “O Alienista” (The Alienist) by Machado de Assis. In the end of the year, he holds a retrospective exhibit at Masp (São Paulo Art Museum), and the works “Enterro na Rede,” “Criança Morta” and “Retirantes” are donated to the museum by Assis Chateuabriand.

Paints the mural “Tiradentes” for the Cataguases school. Despite the invitation, he is unable to participate in the Cultural and Scientific Conference for World Peace in New York because his visa was denied.

Portinari travels to Italy in February and visits Chiampo, where his father was born, and exhibits six works at the XXV Venice Biennial. He receives the Gold Medal of Peace of the II World Congress of the Defenders of Peace in Warsaw for the “Tiradentes”.

Participates with a special room in the 1st São Paulo Biennial. The Biennial counts on over 2 thousand paintings, sculptures, architectural pieces and engraving works of artists from 19 countries. Portinari’s monograph is published in Italy, organized and presented by Eugenio Luraghi (ed. Della Mondione, Milan).

For the Bahia Bank in Salvador he paints the Mural “A Chegada da Família Real Portuguesa à Bahia” (The Arrival of the Royal Portuguese Family in Bahia). With illustrations by Portinari, the weekly magazine O Cruzeiro publishes the novel “Os Cangaceiros” by José Lins do Rego. He paints a set of sacral works for The Mother Church of Batatais (SP), a small city close to Brodowski.

The decoration for the Batatais Church is inaugurated. The Via Crucis is created to integrate the set of works. He starts showing signs of a severe health problem due to paint intoxication. The artist exhibits over 100 works at the Rio Modern Art Museum.

He begins the work of the enormous s “Guerra e Paz” for the UN headquarters in New York.

Together with 140 other artists from 15 countries, Portinari participates in the exhibit organized by the Committee for the Cultural Cooperation with Foreign Countries in Warsaw, which has as its main theme the people’s fight for peace. He also creates a dedicated to the “Fundadores do Estado de São Paulo” (Founders of the State of São Paulo) for the newspaper O Estado de São Paulo. He exhibits once again at the São Paulo Art Museum and then participates with a special room in the III São Paulo Biennial. With the intoxication symptoms increasingly present, the doctors prohibit him from paint for a while. “I am prohibited from living,” he complains.

Participates in the III São Paulo Biennial, again occupying a special room. The international “Fine Arts Council,” from New York, gives him a medal as painter of the year. Portinari illustrates the novel “A Selva” (The Jungle), by Ferreira de Castro. In October, the “O Descobrimento do Brasil” (The Discovery of Brazil) is inaugurated, which was ordered by Português do Brasil bank in Rio.

He travels to Italy and Israel and exhibits at the Tel-Aviv, Haifa and Ein Harod museums. The s “Guerra e Paz” are presented at the Rio Municipal Theater. The artist receives the “Guggenheim’s National Award,” from the Guggenheim Foundation in New York. The Rio Modern Art Museum edits the book “Retrato de Portinari” (A Portrait of Portinari), by Antônio Callado.

Maison De La Pensée, in Paris, presents an individual Portinari exhibit sponsored by the Brazilian Embassy with 136 works. Portinari exhibits at the Munich Museum as well. The s “Guerra e Paz” are inaugurated at the UN headquarters. He receives the “Hallmark Art Award,” from New York. Solomon Guggenheim exhibits “Mulheres Chorando” (Weeping Women), one of the great preliminary studies of the “Guerra.” In the end of the year, Portinari starts righting his memories: “Pieces of my childhood”.

“The cold mornings where pretty at the time of the coffee harvest and the sound of the ox cart transporting the bags of the harvest was delicious. How many times did we sleep over that bags. The sunlight seemed stronger.”

“It was just for us. The slow cart would head down the road, singing. We would sleep filled with happiness. We always dreamed, sleeping or not. Our imagination would fly through the firmament. Forged fantasies looking at the white clouds, whiter than snow. Everything moved around us like magic. The seriemas, wood rails and armadillos were beautiful. Whenever we saw a hole on the ground, we knew to witch animal it belonged. We also new most trees and shrubs, we new their purpose for diseases; the rains, the rainbow, clouds, stars, moon, the wind and the sun were familiar to us. The with the elements would mold our imagination and fill our hearts with tenderness and hope.”

Inaugurating the Del Libraio Gallery in Bologna (Italy), he exhibits the works with Israeli motifs, which he shows next in Lima and Buenos Aires. He is the guest of honor with a special room at the 1st Mexico Biennial. After returning from a trip to Europe, he states he will henceforth dedicate himself to poetry. In Brussels, he is invited to receive the Gold Star. His father, “Mr. Baptista Portinari,” dies in Rio de Janeiro.

Exhibits at the Wildenstein Gallery in New York and the National Fine Arts Museum in Buenos Aires. At Librairie Gallimard’s request, he composes 12 colored illustrations for “O Poder e a Glória” (Power and Glory), a novel by Graham Greene. He also illustrates “O Menino de Engenho” (The Boy from the Mill) by José Lins do Rego with 30 engravings. He paints the mural “Inconfidência Mineira” (Minas Gerais Treachery) for the bank Banco Hipotecário e Agrícola de Minas Gerais S/A, from Rio de Janeiro.

At the V São Paulo Biennial, he exhibits 130 works.

After 30 years of marriage, Portinari separates from Maria, who, assuming more than the role of a wife, helped him with the day-to-day problems, leaving him free to dedicate more time to his work. Even separated, Maria continues helping him. Also for Librairie Gallimard, he illustrates the novels “Terre Promisse” and “Rose de September,” by André Maurois. He creates five s for the Bank of Boston in São Paulo: “Os Bandeirantes” (The Expeditioners), “Fundação de São Paulo” (The Foundation of São Paulo), “Colheita de Café” (Coffee Harvest), “Transporte do Café” (Coffee Transportation) and “Industrialização” (Industrialization).

Portinari exhibits individually in Czechoslovakia, presently the Check Republic, in São Paulo and at Bonino Gallery in Rio. He is invited to participate in the II Mexico Biennial jury.

In Moscow, a show of pictures of several of his works is held. His granddaughter Denise is born. Happy with the birth of his granddaughter, he states, “My granddaughter will free me from solitude” (Poetries: one hundred and twenty six, 1960). From then on, he starts portraying his granddaughter in paintings and poetry.

He goes on his last trip to Europe, meets his son João Candido in Paris, sees some friends again and places that touched him greatly. His health is shaken again due to the disease that afflicted him.

Together with his friend Eugenio Luraghi, he plans the exhibit for the following year in Milan. In July, the Bonino Gallery in Rio de Janeiro presents the last exhibit of the artist still living.

Involved with the work for the Milan exhibit, once gain he slips with the cares with his health. On February 6, Portinari dies at the hospital Casa de Saúde de São José, in Rio de Janeiro. His body is mourned at the Ministry of Education, from where the funeral procession leaves with many participants.

“When Portinari’s coffin left the Ministry on the morning of the 8th in a Fire Truck, the glassed buildings, the patio of the Education Palace, newsstands, cafés fell in sudden silence before the Funeral March and the national Anthem, and the attention of thousands of sister faces of the ones that appear in Portinari’s Hills, Musicians, Migrants turned toward the procession. Thousands of his anonymous creatures said goodbye to the painter, they looked for the last time at the light and subtle witch doctor that forever was imprisoned in lozenges of light and tones of colors. As if in the erased mirror of the artist’s life burned a last glimpse of all that it reflected during his life”.

(Antônio Callado)

The Candido Portinari exhibit is held at Palazzo Reale, Salla delle Cariatini, Milan (Italy), with 201 works.

Livraria José Olympio Editora publishes the book “Poemas de Portinari” (Poems by Portinari).

The artist’s old residence in Brodowski becomes Museu Casa de Portinari (Portinari House Museum). São Paulo Art Museum presents the exhibit “Cem Obras-Primas Portinari” (One Hundred Portinari Masterpieces).

At the national Fine Arts Museum a commemorative exhibit of the ten years of Portinari’s death is held.

At the United Nations Palace in Genève, an exhibit with 42 works by Portinari is held, when four commemorative stamps reproducing details of the s “Guerra e Paz” are launched. The “Tiradentes” is exhibited at the São Paulo Art Museum and the Ministry of Education in Rio de Janeiro.

At the National Fine Arts Museum in Rio de Janeiro, the exhibit “Portinari Desenhista” (Portinari the Drawer) is held gathering 71 works.

At the São Paulo Art Museum, the exhibit “Portinari Desenhista” is held with 71 works.

The Portinari Project is created with headquarters in PUC/Rio de Janeiro, being headed by João Candido, the artist’s son, with the objective of documenting not only the painter’s complete work, but its generation as well.

In Rio de Janeiro the exhibit “25 Anos Sem Portinari” (25 Years Without Portinari) is held with 50 works.

At the Brazilian Jockey Club (Rio de Janeiro), the exhibit “Portinari 90 Anos” (Portinari 90 Years) is held with 80 works.

At the São Paulo Modern Art Museum the exhibits “Portinari Leitor” (Portinari Reader) and “Portinari Imagens do Brasil” (Portinari Images of Brazil) are held.

The exhibit “Retrospectiva” (Retrospective) is held with over 200 works at the São Paulo Art Museum.

The artist’s centennial.

Celebration of the 50 years of the “Guerra e Paz.” The artist’s son, João Candido, participates in the celebrations at the UN headquarters in New York.

São Paulo Art Museum inaugurates the exhibit “Portinari: As Séries Bíblica e Retirantes” (The Biblical and Migrants Series).

On March 14, the 40th anniversary of Museu Casa de Portinari in Brodowski is celebrated.
With the remodeling of the UN headquarters, Portinari Project brings the “Guerra e Paz” s to Brazil for restoration.

Having just arrived in Brazil, the works are exhibited at the Rio de Janeiro Municipal Theater. The event gathered over 44 thousand people in 12 days. Then, the s were restored in an open studio at the Gustavo Capanema Palace, the headquarters of the Ministry of Culture in Rio de Janeiro.

After being restored, the murals are presented at the Latin-American Memorial in São Paulo, from February to May, where they were seen by over 100 thousand people.