Yoshitaka Amano Exhibition in Belo Horizonte Draws 218 Works
Art & Culture: Belo Horizonte
Key Facts
—Event. “Além da Fantasia” ran at the Centro Cultural Banco do Brasil (CCBB) in Belo Horizonte from 10 December 2025 to 2 March 2026.
—Scale. Billed as the largest Yoshitaka Amano exhibition in the world, it gathered 218 original works — paintings, illustrations, objects and an immersive room.
—Artist. Amano is the visual architect of the Final Fantasy video-game franchise and creator of Vampire Hunter D, Angel’s Egg and Candy Girl.
—Access. Entry was free with timed tickets booked online or at the CCBB box office; galleries opened Wednesday to Monday, 10am to 10pm.
—Context. Curated by Antonio Curti, the show then travelled on to the CCBB in Rio de Janeiro and Brasília.
The largest Yoshitaka Amano exhibition ever assembled, “Além da Fantasia,” brought 218 original works by the Final Fantasy artist to Belo Horizonte’s Centro Cultural Banco do Brasil between December and March.
A Record-Setting Amano Exhibition Reaches Brazil
Belo Horizonte, the capital of Minas Gerais, hosted what organizers described as the largest exhibition of Japanese artist Yoshitaka Amano ever assembled anywhere in the world. Titled “Além da Fantasia” (Beyond Fantasy), the show ran at the Centro Cultural Banco do Brasil (CCBB) from 10 December 2025 to 2 March 2026.
For international readers, Amano is best known as the visual architect of the Final Fantasy video-game franchise, a role he has held since 1987. The exhibition gathered 218 original works, many shown publicly for the first time, spanning paintings, illustrations, objects and an immersive digital room.
The scale of the show, and its billing as a global record for the artist, turned a regional gallery date into a destination event for fans of Japanese art, anime and gaming across Brazil and beyond.
Inside “Além da Fantasia”
The exhibition occupied the third-floor galleries of the CCBB and was organized into seven thematic sections, each tracing a different strand of Amano’s long career. They covered his early Tatsunoko animation work, Final Fantasy, the Candy Girl series, Devaloka, Vampire Hunter D, Angel’s Egg and a final room of collaborations.
Curated and conceived by Antonio Curti, the show framed Amano’s style as a meeting point of Japanese tradition, Art Nouveau, Surrealism and pop art. In a statement, Curti said the works “inhabit a dreamlike space where nature, technology and fantasy meet.”
An immersive room combined technology and art to let visitors step inside the artist’s imagery, a feature increasingly common in blockbuster touring shows aimed at younger, screen-native audiences.
Who Is Yoshitaka Amano?
Amano began his career in the late 1960s at the Tatsunoko animation studio, contributing to series that shaped a generation of Japanese television. He later moved into illustration and fine art, developing the ethereal, richly detailed figures that became his signature.
His designs for Final Fantasy, beginning with the first game in 1987, introduced his work to a global audience. He created heroes, heroines, creatures and entire worlds that helped define the look of one of gaming’s most influential franchises.
Beyond gaming, Amano illustrated the Vampire Hunter D novels and contributed to the cult film Angel’s Egg. For foreign visitors, the exhibition offered a rare chance to see the breadth of a career that bridges commercial animation and gallery art.
Why Belo Horizonte and the CCBB Circuit
The Centro Cultural Banco do Brasil is a network of cultural centres run by Brazil’s largest public bank, with branches in Belo Horizonte, Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo and Brasília. Its Belo Horizonte venue sits in a historic building at Praça da Liberdade, a landmark square in the Funcionários district.
CCBB exhibitions are known for drawing long queues and large crowds, helped by free or low-cost entry. Launching this touring exhibition in Belo Horizonte first, rather than in the larger São Paulo or Rio markets, gave the Minas Gerais capital a rare cultural spotlight.
The choice fits a wider pattern in which Belo Horizonte has worked to raise its profile as a cultural destination, complementing its established reputation for food, bars and modernist architecture.
Free Entry and Where the Show Went Next
Admission to “Além da Fantasia” was free, with timed tickets reserved online through the CCBB website or collected at the venue’s box office. The galleries opened from Wednesday to Monday, 10am to 10pm, closing only on Tuesdays.
Full details were published on the CCBB’s official ticketing page. After completing its Belo Horizonte run, the exhibition travelled on to the CCBB in Rio de Janeiro and Brasília, extending its reach to two more major Brazilian cities through 2026.
For readers who missed the Belo Horizonte dates, the touring format meant the works remained accessible elsewhere in the country, a common strategy for CCBB blockbusters.
What It Means for Expats and Pop-Culture Tourism
Large touring exhibitions built around gaming and anime have become reliable draws in Brazil, a country with one of the world’s biggest video-game audiences. Shows like this one connect a global fan base to a specific city for a defined window.
For expats and foreign visitors, such events are an accessible entry point into Brazil’s cultural calendar: free, centrally located and built around internationally recognized names rather than local-language barriers.
The success of an Amano retrospective in Belo Horizonte also signals demand for pop-culture programming beyond the usual São Paulo and Rio axis, a trend worth watching for anyone tracking the country’s cultural economy.
Frequently Asked Questions
When and where was the Yoshitaka Amano exhibition in Brazil?
“Além da Fantasia” ran at the Centro Cultural Banco do Brasil in Belo Horizonte from 10 December 2025 to 2 March 2026, before touring to the CCBB in Rio de Janeiro and Brasília.
How many works were on display, and was it really the largest?
The show gathered 218 original works, including paintings, illustrations, objects and an immersive room, and was billed by organizers as the largest Yoshitaka Amano exhibition ever held anywhere in the world.
How much did tickets cost?
Entry was free. Visitors reserved timed tickets online through the CCBB website or collected them at the box office; the galleries opened Wednesday to Monday, 10am to 10pm.
Sources
CNN Brasil · O Tempo · Yoshitaka Amano Inc. · CCBB
Sources: CNN Brasil, O Tempo, Yoshitaka Amano Inc., CCBB.
This article was produced by The Rio Times’ automated newsroom system. How we use AI · Report an error
In depth
Read More from The Rio Times