MAM – Museu de Arte Moderna

The Story

This museum on the shores of Guanabara Bay, designed by architect Affonso Eduardo Reidy with gardens by Roberto Burle Marx, is a landmark of global modern architecture, with the main building completed in 1955 and the Exhibition Block finished in 1967. Throughout the 60s and 70s, it housed the main avant-garde artistic movements in Brazil. In 1967, at the Nova Objetividade Brasileira exhibition, Hélio Oiticica presented Tropicália for the first time, an installation that gave its name to the musical movement led by Caetano Veloso and Gilberto Gil. From 1970 onwards, during the full military regime, the "Domingos da Criação" (Sundays of Creation) transformed the museum's immense open space into a democratic venue, bringing together artists and the public in open activities. A fire in July 1978 destroyed almost the entire original collection, with the Exhibition Block reopening only in 1982 after years of restoration. Still active, with a regular program of Brazilian experimental music.

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