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The Museum is Closed for Renovations


Paintings, interventions etc, 2014 - ...




Until 2022, the Museu Paulista (São Paulo) was closed for renovations. A single art work continued inside, inaccessible to the public: its most famous item, the painting Independence or Death (1888), by Pedro Américo.

The Museum is Closed for Renovations is a set of experiences that departs from the closing of a museum to rethink Brazil’s history, its official symbols and language, constructed from the point of view of São Paulo.

The work presented here is a joint creation by Bruno Moreschi and several painters of República Square and Trianon-Masp Park in São Paulo. The artists decided, through mutual agreement, to create a version of the original painting, as well as fragments that highlight popular figures that are marginalized in the original work (as well as in the narrative).

In 2016, Moreschi carried out a second set of experiments with a new group of painters, continuing the creations of versions to the original painting. This time, a 24 meter panel in the gardens of Sesc Ipiranga was painted from September 7 (Brazil’s Independence Day) till November 15 (Proclamation of the Brazilian Republic), in open air and without any protection for the painting.








Photography in partnership with Filipe Berndt using Hi-Res Photo technology (with imperceptible details to the naked eye, ideal for scientific artwork studies) on a 1:1 scale. Image donated to the conservation and restauration sector of the Paulista Museum.





Independence or death (The People): Experience 1 (2015)
Experiences with São Paulo street painters after reading and discussing the text Brado do Ipiranga: fact and painting, written by Pedro Américo.

The created paintings highlight and individualize the figures of the people that appear in the corners of the official painting, reversing the choices of Pedro Américo that considered these figures "mere accessories."


“Pessoas conspícuas sugeriram-me a ideia de pintar no fundo do painel algumas das tropas de asnos características do sertão de São Paulo. Julguei ousadia fazê-lo em pintura de tão alto assunto; e apenas represento um carro de bois, ainda mais característico do lugar, para lembrar a placidez habitual daquelas paragens, inesperado teatro da extraordinária cena. Conquanto obrigados em parte avultadas dimensões por ocuparem o primeiro plano do quadro, as figuras situadas à esquerda do espectador são meros acessórios, que procurei estudar no próprio cenário da proclamação da Independência, tanto para acentuar a fisionomia deste, quanto para completar a harmonia linear da composição, atendendo às exigências da euritmia.” (Pedro Américo)




Joint creation with the painters of the square of the Republic and park Trianon-Masp (São Paulo) Marco Andrade Jr., Reginaldo Frazão, José Almeida. Oil on fabric, 185 x 380 cm.









Independence or Death (The People 1), 2014.
Marco Andrade Jr., Carla Soares and Helena Trindade. Oil on fabric, 150 x 100 cm.



Independence or Death (The People 2), 2014.
Marco Andrade Jr. Oil on fabric, 30 x 26,5 cm.



Independence or Death (The People 3), 2014.
Marco Andrade Jr. and José Almeida. Oil on fabric, 108 x 124 cm.





Fragment 1 e Fragment 2, 2014.
Coleção de Arte da Cidade – Centro Cultural São Paulo.




Fragment 3, Fragment 4, Fragment 5, Fragment 6 e Fragment 7, 2016.



Independence or death (The People): Experience 2 (2016)

Experiences with painters A. Castro, Carlos Silverio, Marco Andrade Jr., Mouser, Silvio Jr. and Vanderlei Marinho.
Painted from September 7 to November 15, 2016.
Campo de preposições, curated by grupo inteiro, Sesc Ipiranga garden, São Paulo. 24 x 3 m.

In 2016, a second experience with the painters was carried out giving continuity to this creation of new versions of the official painting. This time, a 24 meters mural in the gardens of Sesc Ipiranga, painted from September 7 to November 15 in open air and without any protection for the painting. 













Pictures of the painting process. Sesc Ipiranga garden, São Paulo, BR.





Vanderlei Marinho, specialists in horse painting.












Carlos Silvério, impressionist painter.




Mouser.





Marco Andrade Jr.




A. Carlos, specialist in religious painting.



September 7, morning, before the beginning of panel painting. Painters being received by the director of the Museu Paulista Solange Lima to see the painting of Pedro Américo.