The Biennial and the Museu de Arte Moderna de São Paulo: Micro-Histories of a Modernist Collection

This article aims to contribute to the interpretation of artworks from the collection of the Museu de Arte Moderna de São Paulo (MAM-SP), which originated in the 1950s iterations of the Bienal de São Paulo. The paper proposes micro-narratives of modern art in the Brazilian context, opening up the artworks to new interpretations. The goal is to recontextualise the biographies of the collected items as museum objects, going beyond the disputes surrounding the narrative of modern art that occurred in the early years of the Biennial. This will be accomplished through two case studies: Renato Birolli's works at the 1st Bienal de São Paulo in 1951 and Barbara Hepworth's works at the 5th edition of the exhibition in 1963.