Gilberto Chateaubriand: A Sensorial Collection - MAM Rio

Gilberto Chateaubriand: a sensorial collection opens the celebrations of the centenary of the birth of one of the greatest art collectors in Brazil. Throughout his life, the businessman and diplomat Gilberto Chateaubriand (1925–2022) dedicated himself to building one of the most significant private collections of Brazilian art. Comprising modern and contemporary works, his vast collection brings together tradition and experimentation and, through works by artists from multiple generations, languages, and territories, offers an exceptional view of artistic creation in Brazil over the last century.

Gilberto Chateaubriand began his collection in 1953 during a trip to Salvador, when he acquired Paisagem de Itapuã directly from the artist José Pancetti. Over the following decades, he imprinted his own vision on the collection, choosing the works that would eventually be included, often in direct dialogue with their authors. Gilberto Chateaubriand knew the artists, visited them in their studios, and followed and supported their working processes. This close and engaged gaze, resulting from what he himself identified as a “sensorial” approach, built a collection characterized by knowledge of and passion for both individual works and artists, and for Brazilian art in general.

With the aim of highlighting some of the aspects that make this collection extraordinary, the exhibition has been organized into five sections. Origins offers a genealogy, revisiting the exhibition that, in 1981, inaugurated the relationship between the Gilberto Chateaubriand collection and MAM Rio, where a large part of it is currently on long-term loan. Portraits explores the collector’s special interest in portraits of artists, stemming from his desire to come closer to creators and their processes. Frontiers refers to his constant practice of exploring new geographic, thematic, and formal territories, offering access to art beyond what is familiar or established. Artists presents windows onto the work of some figures with a strong presence in the collection, revealing Gilberto Chateaubriand’s interest in the artistic process in its entirety. And, as a horizon for all of them, the large constellation that occupies the wall of the museum’s Monumental Hall: a passionate manifesto of Brazilian art in its plurality.

This exhibition, together with a second show that will open at MAM Rio in December, celebrates Gilberto Chateaubriand and his contributions to Brazilian art in the year of his centenary. The exhibition is organized in collaboration with the Gilberto Chateaubriand Cultural Institute. Go to Website

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