O Moderno antes do Modernismo: paradoxos da pintura brasileira no nascimento da República

Abstract

The present article discusses the specificity of the Brazilian painting produced during the First Republic (1889-1930), which cannot be understood as a harmonic continuity in relation to the tradition inherited by the Empire, nor be labeled as “pre-modern”. Through the interpretation of two paintings, Os descobridores, by Belmiro de Almeida, and Fundação da cidade de São Paulo,by Antônio Parreiras, we set out to examine the specific political and cultural meanings that these works generate, which emanate from a certain moment and condition of their production, as well as from their critical relationship towards the academic tradition of the country.