This exhibition presents the work of global contemporary artist Beatriz Milhazes (b. 1960, Rio de Janeiro), who engages with her cultural heritage and Brazilian identity through the language of abstraction. The artist’s vast body of work spans four decades—from the 1980s to the present—and encompasses sculpture, collage, printmaking, textiles, public art, and, especially, painting. This focused exhibition showcases a group of fifteen paintings and works on paper from 1995 to 2023, drawn from the museum’s permanent collection and complemented by important loans, which together contextualize the broader narrative of Milhazes’ artistic evolution.
The work of Milhazes is deeply rooted in Brazilian history and tradition, drawing inspiration from colonial art and architecture, decorative arts, and the vibrant celebration of Carnival. She is also influenced by Tropicália, a cultural movement from the 1960s that blended art, music, and literature to celebrate Brazilian identity while protesting against the repressive military regime. The rhythms and colors of bossa nova, a musical style that originated in Rio de Janeiro in the late 1950s, also resonate in her work. In addition to these influences, Milhazes engages with the work of artists such as Henri Matisse and Piet Mondrian, also referencing Tarsila do Amaral, whose creations were fundamental to the visual and aesthetic development of Brazilian Modernism.
In 1989, Milhazes developed an innovative technique she calls “monotransfer,” inspired by the process of monotype, in which a painted image is transferred from a plate to paper, producing a mirrored image. She begins her process by painting motifs on transparent plastic sheets with acrylic paint. Once the acrylic is dry, she overlays and adheres the painted films to the canvas and then removes the plastic, revealing the inverted shapes. The resulting compositions are vibrant and dynamic, combining abstract forms, organic patterns, and geometric structures on textured surfaces imbued with the memory of the artist’s actions.
The initial paintings in this exhibition, primarily from the museum’s collection—such as Santa Cruz (1995), In albis (1995–96), and As quatro estaçōes (The Four Seasons, 1997)—draw inspiration from the opulence of 18th-century Brazilian baroque colonial churches and ornamental garments. Milhazes synthesizes these influences into abstract and representative motifs, with circles and arabesques, delicate crochet and lace, flowers and floral patterns, and ornate pearls and ironwork emerging throughout her compositions. Around 2000, she began exploring optical effects in her paintings, using linear repetitions to create undulating patterns and visual rhythms, as seen in Paisagem carioca (Carioca Landscape, 2000), O cravo e a rosa (The Carnation and the Rose, 2000), and O Caipira (The Caipira, 2004).
The works on paper in this exhibition, created between 2013 and 2021, demonstrate Milhazes’ ongoing experimentation with collage. She combines mass-produced elements such as branded shopping bags, chocolate bar wrappers, and printed paper with cutouts from her own monochromatic screen prints to create intricate patterns and bold abstract configurations.
Milhazes’ recent paintings, including Mistura sagrada (Sacred Mixture, 2022), mark a shift towards exploring the spiritual power of nature in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. While references to the natural world have been present since the beginning of her career, here she delves into cycles of renewal—life and death—through colorful angular forms and intricate patterns. Organic elements, reflecting the artist’s proximity to the Botanical Garden of Rio de Janeiro, the Tijuca Forest, and Copacabana Beach, echo in the harmonious geometries, conceptual systems, and chromatic universes that permeate her work.
Where: Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum and Foundation, New York.
When: From March 7 to September 7, 2025