MAM – São Paulo

Founded in 1948 in São Paulo, Brazil
Directed by Milú Villela

The Museum of Modern Art of São Paulo (MAM) is one of the most important cultural institutions in Brazil. It is located in Ibirapuera Park, in São Paulo, in a building inserted in the architectonic set designed by Oscar Niemeyer in 1954 and reformed by Lina Bo Bardi in 1982 to house the museum. It is a Non-Profit Civil Society Organization of Public Interest, whose purpose is the conservation, extroversion and expansion of its artistic heritage, the dissemination of modern and contemporary art and the organization of exhibitions and cultural and educational activities.

The museum was founded by Francisco Matarazzo Sobrinho, called Ciccillo Matarazzo, in 1948, concomitant to the emergence of the Museum of Modern Art of Rio de Janeiro, both inspired by the Museum of Modern Art of New York (MoMA) and fruits of the environment of great cultural effervescence and socioeconomic progress that characterized Brazil in the 1940s. Throughout its history, the MAM was notable for its active cultural agenda and important initiatives aimed at sedimentation and diffusion of modern art in Brazilian society, namely the creation of the International Biennial of Sao Paulo. In his early years he also admired a remarkable artistic collection, adding works by some of the most important national and international names of the visual arts in the twentieth century.