RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The building of the Pinacoteca Contemporânea, an extension of the Pinacoteca de São Paulo, should be ready by November next year. The building, whose works started this week, will be the third of the group, currently formed by Pinacoteca Luz and Pinacoteca Estação. The information is from the São Paulo government.
Just like the other two buildings of the Pinacoteca de São Paulo, the new unit will also be located in the central region of the city, where the Escola Estadual Prudente de Moraes used to be until 2014, on Tiradentes Avenue, near the Luz train and subway stations.
Budgeted at approximately R$85 (US$16) million, the construction of Pina Contemporânea, as it is called, will be funded by the private sector and the government of São Paulo, which will pay R$55 million. The place will have the potential to receive up to 1 million visitors per year.
The new unit will have two galleries for exhibitions of works of various sizes and a center for socio-educational activities. The site will also have a service area, with a restaurant, store, and common spaces for free circulation of the public. The Art Garden will also be built, connecting the Pinacoteca Luz building to the new building.
“With the new galleries, the museum will have more space and flexibility to exhibit the more than 10,000 works of art in its collection, including large-scale works, and to receive works by international artists, reaffirming the Pinacoteca’s mission to be a museum of Brazilian art in dialogue with the world’s cultures,” said the general director of the Pinacoteca de São Paulo, Jochen Volz.
The pinacoteca currently has more than 10,000 pieces, including works by important Brazilian artists such as Anita Malfatti, Lygia Clark, Tarsila do Amaral, Almeida Júnior, Pedro Alexandrino, Candido Portinari, and Oscar Pereira da Silva.