Beatriz Milhazes is one my favourite artists, and one of the most internationally recognized in the Brazilian art scene. She is distinguished by her use of vivid colours and the consistent integration of flora and fauna imagery into her artwork.
Above: This painting "Magic of OZ" was sold to a Spanish art collector for $15,000.00. It was then auctioned in 2008 at Sotheby's in New York for $1,049,000.00 - the highest bid ever achieved by a live Brazilian artist at the time.
Although Beatriz Milhazes' vividly coloured paintings seem typical of the Brazilian art scene, Milhazes explains that this is not the case, saying:
"We don't have a strong tradition of painting in Brazil, and especially not painting with color. When I became internationally known as a Brazilian painter, the international audience thought that I came out of a strong tradition of Brazilian painting. This is because there is a general lack of information on Latin American art. Due to Spanish colonization, some countries like Mexico or Venezuela have a strong painting tradition. This is not the case for Brazil. The most important and well-known Brazilian art is conceptual and constructivist. There is no special interest in color. Brazil is a colourful country, but its art isn't. That is why people get confused. I use elements from my culture, and color is one of them, but I'm the only one to do so."Beatriz Milhazes' paintings are in the permanent collections in many institutions, including the Museum of Modern Art, the Guggenheim, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Banco Itaú, and the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía.
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