Mighty red (CP 1/2009)

The São Paulo Museum of Art is Brazil’s most prestigious art museum. Suvinil^® provided special paint for the recent renovation.

Walking along the long boulevard of the Avenida Paulista, the striking red façade of the São Paulo Museum of Art (MASP) catches the eye. Indeed, the museum indeed deserves of extra attention, as it not only houses Latin America’s most significant art collection but is itself a monument of Brazilian modern architecture. (Picture: Ed Viggiani)

Built between 1956 and 1968, it is a product of the artistic milieu of its time, when architects such as the Brazilian Oscar Niemeyer were designing stately buildings for the capital city of Brasilia. The museum design – developed by Italian architect Lina Bo Bardi, wife of one of the museum’s two founders – is still one-of-a-kind.

The museum building, an elongated box made mostly of glass, appears more to float than to stand, suspended by two massive steel frames shaped like face-down angular brackets. To enter the museum, visitors must first pass under it and then climb a flight of stairs. In 1968, Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II herself attended the opening ceremony for this extraordinary building.

Red MASP

The color boldly highlighting the mighty steel structure that defines the museum’s architectural significance is called Red MASP. This red paint was specially developed by Suvinil for the museum’s renovation. Operating under the Suvinil brand, BASF Coatings has been the market leader in Brazil for many years. Red MASP is a water-based paint that is environmentally compliant, quick-drying, odor-free and weather-resistant. More than 1,700 liters were applied to the outer façade and building interior between April and June of this year.

Hanging cube: The Museum of Art in São Paulo is one of Brazil's foremost works of 20th century modern architecture. (Picture: Getty Images)

Suvinil provided the paint as part of its sponsorship as museum patron. “There was no question for us that we would contribute to the renovation,” says Eugênio Luporini Neto, Marketing Manager for Suvinil. “The preservation of historically and culturally significant buildings is a key part of BASF’s social mission in Brazil.”

Major attraction

Over the last five years the MASP has undergone substantial modernization in the areas of systems technology and museum pedagogy, in addition to the renovation of the building itself. Latin America’s best collection of Western art can now be exhibited in an appropriately sophisticated and contemporary setting, renewing the attraction of an innovative cultural center that has always been a major attraction for tourism.

The MASP’s collection features paintings and sculptures from the 14th century to the present, including works by Renoir, Van Gogh, Matisse, Debret, Picas-so, Miró, or Di Cavalcanti. The museum’s year-round program includes public readings, concerts, and lectures, rounded out by periodic special exhibitions. And the 2,100 square meter space beneath the hanging museum is once again open to the public for antique flea markets, open-air concerts, or simply strolling in the shade of the mighty red pillars.

www.suvinil.com.br
http://masp.uol.com.br