Tarsila do Amaral

In 1906, Tarsila married André Teixeira Pinto, who fathered her only child; a daughter named Dulce do Amaral Pinto, born in the same year. The couple did not have any common interest and was separated in around 1913 after seven years of living together.

In 1926, she married her long time companion Oswald de Andrade. They met in São Paulo in 1921. Very quickly, they formed an artistically productive partnership, traveling together both at home and abroad. In 1930, the marriage ended in a divorce.

After the divorce from Andrade, she might have formed a partnership with Osório Taumaturgo César. However, no detail is available about this union.

Tarsila do Amaral was born on September 1, 1886, in Capivari, a small town in the Brazilian state of São Paulo. Her father, José Estanislau do Amaral, came from a family of prosperous landowners and grew coffee in his plantation. Her mother’s name was Lídia Dias de Aguiar.

Tarsila was born second of his parents’ five children, having an elder brother named Osvaldo Estanislau do Amaral and three younger siblings named Milton Estanislau do Amaral; Cecília do Amaral and José Estanislau do Amaral. Little is known about her family except that her parents must have been exceptionally forward.

At a time when daughters of rich families mostly stayed at home, learning little, she was supported by her parents in her endeavor to educate herself. However, it is not known if she was actually sent to school in São Paulo although some sources mention that she attended Zion School.

In 1900, the family moved to Barcelona, where she was enrolled in a school. It was at this school that she had her first formal instruction in art. Very soon, she impressed her teachers with her copies of images from the school’s collection.

In 1906, the family returned to São Paulo. By then, Tarsila was engrossed in her studies of art.

In 1920, Tarsila traveled to Paris, where she enrolled at Académie Julian, founded by painter and teacher Rodolphe Julian. Studying there until 1921, she returned home towards the beginning of 1922, just after the conclusion of Semana de Arte Moderna (Modern Art Week), held from February 11 to February 18.

While in Brazil, she met some of the organizers of ‘Semana de Arte Moderna’, especially Anita Malfatti, Oswald de Andrade, Mário de Andrade, and Menotti Del Picchia. Subsequently, she was invited to join the movement and together they formed ‘Grupo dos Cinco’ or the ‘Group of Five’.

The group’s main intention was to promote Brazilian culture through modern art, avoiding styles that were typically European. Instead, they tried to include elements indigenous to Brazil.

In December 1922, Tarsila returned to Paris, where she studied with André Lhote at Académie Lhote. In addition, she also studied briefly with Albert Gleizes and Fernand Léger. During this period, she was exposed to different types of modern art, such as Cubism, Futurism, and Expressionism.

She soon realized that although Cubism had its benefits, helping artists to come out of the academic art forms, finally it would prove destructive. Therefore, while she did not give up cubism she fought to evolve a style of her own, being influenced greatly by Fernand Léger (French painter, sculptor and filmmaker) in the process.

In December 1923, Tarsila returned to Brazil. Very soon she was joined by two poets, Oswald de Andrade, a Brazilian, and Blaise Cendrars, French. The three now began to tour Brazil, visiting Rio de Janeiro during its famous Carnival and small mining towns in Minas Gerais during Holy Week.

In Minas Gerais, she was delighted to rediscover the vibrant colors she loved as a child, but later was taught to reject as ‘ugly and unsophisticated’. Moreover, the rustic homes and old churches captured her imagination. Delving more deeply into her Brazilian heritage, slowly she began to discover her roots.

This period of her life is known as ‘Pau Brasil’ after a manifesto written by her companion and future husband Oswald de Andrade. In the manifesto, he urged artists to create works that were uniquely Brazilian and not imitate European styles.

During her travels, Tarsila made many sketches, which later became the basis of many of her paintings. The colors were always vibrant; something she rediscovered during this tour. She also developed an interest in industrialization and its impact on Brazilian society.

‘Estrada de Ferro Central do Brasil’ (E.F.C.B. 1924) was Tarsila’s first major work of this period. Created in vibrant colors, the cityscape was a wonderful synthesis of cubism and ethnic paintings. ‘Carnaval em Madureira’, also painted in 1924, is another of her major works.