Tarsila do Amaral

You certainly have the image of the Abaporu painting engraved in your head, that canvas with a cactus in the background and a protagonist with a huge foot. Tarsila do Amaral is the author of this masterpiece, in addition to many other works that belonged to Modernism. The painter's works are generally divided into three phases: Pau-Brasil, Antropofágica and Social. Tarsila also founded, alongside Oswald de Andrade and Raul Bopp, the Anthropophagic movement, a watershed in Brazilian culture.
Daughter of a rich and traditional family, the painter grew up on farms in the interior of São Paulo. At the age of sixteen, she went to study fine arts abroad, in Barcelona. She returned to Brazil, got married and had a daughter. She separated and returned to live in Europe where she met sculptors, painters, had a dynamic life and participated in the high circles.
Tarsila was a woman ahead of her time: she experienced living in different parts of the world, painted as and when she wanted, she was a thinking creature in the world of fine arts and had boyfriends and husbands whenever she felt like it.

Artist: Sandra Cinto (Brazil)
(Image credit: Wikiart)